BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - With just one run in the top of the first inning, the Coe College softball team beat Alma (Mich.) 1-0 Saturday.  The win puts the Kohawks in the NCAA Regional Championship game against Illinois Wesleyan.With two outs, junior Chelsea Zaugg (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier) singled to left field.  In the next at-bat, senior Amy Hanse (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar) doubled to right field, plating Zaugg for the only run of the game.

The Scots tried numerous times to put runs on the scoreboard, but the Kohawk defense shut them down.  In the third inning, Alma put runners on the corners with no outs, but eventually left the bases loaded with no runs scoring.

Alma tried to strike again in the fourth inning, but again the defense held.  With one hit and a Kohawk error, the Scots left two runners in scoring position.  The Kohawks blew a chance of their own in the fifth inning with the bases loaded.  On two hits and an error by Alma, Coe left the bases loaded on a ground out to end the inning.

Again in the sixth inning Alma tried to score, but left two runners on base thanks to a hit and an error by Coe.  The Kohawks squandered a chance to score again in the seventh, leaving two runners on base after two hits in the inning.  Coe held the Scots to a ground out, strikeout and pop out in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Senior Ashley Leonard (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy) had a game-high two hits.  Zaugg, Hanse, junior Mackenzie Lang (Urbandale, Iowa/Johnston) and freshman Amanda Hanson (Riverside, Iowa/Highland) each added a hit. 

Freshman Ashlee Simon (Riverside, Iowa/Highland) improved to 21-4 in the circle.  With seven strikesouts on the day, Simon moved to fifth on the all-time list for strikeouts in a season with 226.  Simon gave up just four hits and walked two, while allowing no runs. 

The Kohawks will face host Illinois Wesleyan at 12 p.m. Sunday.  If the Kohawks win, the two teams will meet again 35 minutes later for the right to advance to the College World Series next weekend.