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 Sloan McHann's walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning ended what was an epic matchup between #1 Cal Baptist and #4 Cal State San Marcos at the NAIA Softball National Championships Monday, as the Lancers prevailed 3-2 over the Cougars.

CSUSM drops to 4-1 at the National Championships (1-1 in bracket play) and 44-10 on the year.  The Cougars, who Monday morning defeated Shorter University (GA) to open bracket play, will now face #3 William Carey in an elimination game at 5:30 PM CDT Monday night.  It will be both teams' third game of the day.

Cal Baptist improves to 2-0 in bracket play and 64-3 on the year, advancing to the winner's bracket to take on Oregon Tech on Tuesday.

Though CSUSM is still very much alive in the tournament, it's a tough loss to take for Coach Dave Williams' squad, who held a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning against Cal Baptist.    The Cougars scored twice in the third inning, with Alyssa Dronenburg driving home Alicia Ingram with an RBI single to left, and Shanti Poston drawing a bases loaded walk to plate Alex Miller.

On the mound, pitcher Brenna Sandberg's scoreless streak at the National Championships reached 27 2/3 innings before coming to an end in the bottom of the second on a Tina Galinto RBI double.  The tenuous 2-1 lead would collapse in the fifth, as an error allowed the tying run to cross the plate.

The 2-2 score would persist through the remainder of the seven scheduled innings, sending the contest into extras.  With ace Emma Holden taking over for Cal Baptist in the fifth, CSUSM failed to rally, setting the table for McHann's walk-off bomb to lead off the eighth.

Sandberg finished the game with 7+ inning pitched, allowing 6 hits, 2 earned runs and 4 walks while striking out 7.  Holden picked up the win in relief of Tory Ferreira and Courtney McGee, throwing 3.0 innings and striking out 7 of the 9 batters she faced.

Live video streaming for the CSUSM v. William Carey game is available through the NAIA at http://www.watchnaia.com//liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?db_oem_id=5901

The NAIA National Championships are taking place at Gulf Shores Sportsplex in Gulf Shores, Alabama.