DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University softball team won its fourth Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title with a 4-1 victory over Southern Illinois, Saturday afternoon, in the MVC title game at Buel Field.
 
Drake (43-10) earned the Valley’s automatic berth to the 2018 NCAA Tournament as it will make its third NCAA appearance in school history and first since 2008. The Bulldogs added to their hardware as they also won the 2018 regular season title after going 24-1 in league play.
 
Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) (21-3) pitched a complete game against SIU (31-22) and allowed one run earned run on two hits with 10 strikeouts. Newman, who Friday tossed the fourth no-hitter in MVC tournament history in the win over Valparaiso, was named the MVC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player for outstanding play. She struck out 15 Crusaders Friday.
 
Joining Newman on the All-Tournament team was Tasha Alexander (Eddyville, Iowa), Macy Johnson (Winterset, Iowa) and Kelsey Wright (Olathe, Kan.). Mandi Roemmich (West Des Moines, Iowa), the MVC’s 2018 Player of the Year, was honored with the MVC Elite 17 award for having the highest-grade point average in the tournament.
 
In the second inning Saturday, Drake scored its first three runs. Wright doubled in Sarah Maddox (Henderson, Nev.), who drew a one-out walk, for the game’s first run. One batter later, Alexander launched her team-high fifth home run, a deep two-run shot over the left fence, give Drake a 3-0 lead.
 
Drake added to its lead in the third inning as Maddox hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Johnson from third, who led off with a single through the left side and advanced to third after a walk by Taryn Pena (Columbia, Ill.) and a groundout by Kailee Smith (Murrieta, Calif.).
 
Newman didn’t allow her first hit until the sixth inning when Susie Baranski singled to left field and later scored on a single by Jenny Jansen up the middle. Newman then struck out Katelyn Massa to end the sixth and then sealed the game with a fast 1-2-3 seventh inning.
 
Johnson and Wright led the Bulldogs’ offense with two hits each.
 
The 2018 Valley champions will learn their NCAA opponent and location Sunday evening at 9 p.m. CDT when the NCAA Softball Selection Show airs on ESPN2.