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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kennesaw State came up on the short end of a pitchers' duel in the semifinals of the ASUN Conference Softball Championship as it fell 1-0 to Florida Gulf Coast Friday at Draper Diamond in Nashville, Tenn.
 
The Eagles (30-29) strung together three straight two-out hits in the top of the sixth inning to produce the lone run of the game and will now advance to Saturday's championship game against USC Upstate. The Owls (36-18) will await Sunday's announcement of the NCAA Tournament field to see if it receives an at-large bid. The entire 64-team field will be announced live on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. (ET).
 
Abby Green and Taylor Wade matched each other for five innings, before Florida Gulf Coast connected for a double and back-to-back singles with two outs in the sixth that resulted in a run. It was a tough-luck loss for Green (5-2), who after working out of bases loaded, one-out jam in the first inning, retired 14 of the next 15 batters.

Green, who allowed six hits, one run, walked one and struck out four, in six innings, got a big inning-ending double play in the first as she induced a shallow fly ball to center field that Hannah Thomason caught and then made a perfect throw to the plate to gun down a runner attempting to score.
 
Wade (10-14) also worked out trouble throughout the game as Kennesaw State put runners in scoring position in five of seven innings and had the tying run at third base with two outs in the seventh. However, Riley Randolph came on in relief to record the final two outs and preserve the win.
 
The Owls were able get a runner to third base three times, but the clutch hit proved elusive. Thomason, who had two hits, led off the first inning with a hit and reached third base, pinch-runner Andrea Summey was able to advance to third in the sixth, and Jessie Mullen, who opened the seventh with her second hit of the game, made it to third.
 
Thomason twice led off an inning with a base hit, and in the third became Kennesaw State's all-time single-season stolen base leader after stealing second base. It was her 33rd steal in 34 attempts and broke the previous mark of 32 set by Taylor Denton in 2016.
 
Mullen turned in an impressive performance during the ASUN Championship as she posted a .444 batting average (4-for-9), scored three runs, hit a pair of home runs and collected three RBIs while recording a 1.111 slugging percentage and .500 on-base percentage. She hit safely in all three games and hit a walk-off home run against North Florida on Thursday.
 
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