AKRON, Ohio – The Saint Mary-of-the Woods College softball team earned the program's ninth national title on Thursday in Akron, Ohio. The Pomeroys defeated Berea, 6-2, on Thursday at Firestone Stadium to claim their seventh USCAA Softball National Championship and their ninth overall national championship.

The Pomeroys started off the week by having the USCAA announce that the SMWC 2015 softball team was home to four USCAA All-Americans in senior Brooke Jordan, junior Sarah Burnham, sophomore Emma Riffe and freshman Marlee Yeager as well as three USCAA All-Academic Team Members in senior Shelby Turner, junior Rebecca Latta and Riffe. The Pomeroys also were honored with the USCAA Coach of the Year in Mark Feller, and the USCAA Player of the Year in Burnham. They then ended the week on Thursday by earning the ultimate team award, the 2015 USCAA National Championship.

The Pomeroys started off the week by beating Berea in the opening round in what proved to be SMWC's toughest game, so it was fitting that the national title game would need to be earned against their biggest challenger of the tournament.

SMWC's offense took a little longer to get going on Thursday in comparison to their previous two games. However, by scoring a run in every inning after the first two, they were able to claim the 6-2 victory.

Berea started off the scoring in the bottom of the first with one run as they recorded two of the four hits that Jordan allowed in her final game as a Pomeroy. Both sides went three-up, three-down in the second to give Berea the 1-0 lead heading into the top of third. In the top of the third, the Pomeroys' offense broke through and scored its first run of the game off an RBI single by Riffe that scored junior Kimberly Strattman to knot the game up at 1-1. 

Jordan shutdown Berea in the bottom of the third, and the Pomeroys started to build some momentum in the top of the fourth as they took a 3-1 lead. SMWC took the lead off of a two-run double by Latta that scored Turner and Yeager.

The bottom of the fourth again saw the Pomeroys defense stand tall, as Jordan forced Berea's first three batters to fly out. SMWC's offense kept rolling in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly by Burnham that scored freshman Kerri Schrock and then an RBI single by Yeager that scored Riffe. Berea answered in the bottom of the fifth with their final run of the game, when Turner connected with Riffe to catch a Berea runner stealing at second; however, the throw allowed Berea's lead runner to make it home.

Heading into the sixth inning, the Pomeroys held a 5-2 lead, which would move to 6-2 as Riffe hit an RBI single to score Strattman. With the Pomeroys leading 6-2 and needing just six more outs to be crowned the champs, Jordan struck out Berea's first batter and forced the next two to ground out.

The Pomeroys were unable to add a run in the top of the seventh, and they were now just three outs away from the program's ninth national title. Berea started off with a ground out to Riffe at short stop followed by a single and then a hit-by-pitch for their next two batters. With runners on first and second, Berea hit a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with two outs. Jordan then forced Berea to ground out to Strattman at second to record the final out of the game and end the USCAA National Championship game on top, 6-2.

The Pomeroys finished Thursday just how they started the week on Sunday, with awards. SMWC had three players named to the all-tournament team in Schrock, Riffe and Burnham, while Jordan was named the tournament's MVP. The biggest award of all was the Pomeroys receiving the 2015 USCAA National Championship title in just the second season with Mark Feller as head coach.

"This week was fun and exciting for the team," stated coach Feller, when asked about his team being crowned the 2015 USCAA Softball National Champions. "I am very proud and happy for this team. They worked hard all year and were able to cap the season off in the best way possible."

"Last season, we came up just shy of being crowned the champs, and this year we were able to make it happen," said senior catcher Shelby Turner, when asked about finishing her senior season with a national title. "I could not think of a better way to finish my SMWC softball career."

The Pomeroys finish the season 31-11 overall with the title as the best team in the USCAA for the 2015 season.