CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE - #1 UT Tyler took down #8 seed Western Washington 2-0 on Sunday to book their spot in the NCAA Division II championship series for the second straight season.
 
The Patriots leaned heavily on Primrose Aholelei, who threw a phenomenal game in the circle to keep the Vikings bats at bay.
 
After Aholelei struck out the side to begin the first inning of the contest, the Patriots got on the board first with a run in the home half. JT Smith led off with a single and then moved all the way to third via a sacrifice bunt from Ka'Lyn Watson. Next up was Abbie Behe, who lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Smith and give the Patriots the lead.
 
That would be the only run for the Patriots until the sixth and the only run of the game for either team as Aholelei stepped up for her lights out showing. She worked around a walk with a flyout, and two groundouts in the second, and sat them down 1-2-3 with another strikeout in the third.
 
The Vikings would lead off with a single in the fourth, breaking up the no-hit bid in the process. Aholelei would respond with a popout, strikeout, and foulout to leave that runner stranded at first. In the fifth, she led off with another strikeout before a single and a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second, but she again had the answer with another big strikeout.
 
She worked another 1-2-3 frame in the sixth, setting up the Patriots offense with a chance to add insurance runs. Behe would leadoff with a single and Keona Wells would take over as a runner. A Taryn Barney single put two on with one out, and a fielder's choice moved Wells to third with two outs. Sam Schott would draw a walk, and Megan Geyer would walk up to the plate and deliver a huge single up the middle allowing Wells to score and make it 2-0 after six.
 
Aholelei would lock it down in the seventh, working her fourth 1-2-3 inning of the contest to give the Patriots the big win.
 
Her complete game shutout is her fifth of the season and moves her to 20-1. She allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out seven batters of the 24 she faced.
 
On offense. The Patriots got seven hits from seven different players, including a 2-for-2 effort from Sam Schott to lead the way. JT Smith and Keona Wells would record a run scored, and Abbie Behe and Megan Geyer recorded an RBI each.
 
UT Tyler will now face off with #2 seed Tampa in the championship series. That will be a best-of-three series beginning on Tuesday at 5 p.m. central time.