NORTON, Mass. – The Husson University softball team defeated Johnson & Wales, 3-0, in game five of the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament (Norton Regional) on Saturday afternoon at Clark Field on the campus of Wheaton College to claim the program's first spot in a regional championship game.

Husson (28-12) will take on host Wheaton College tomorrow morning at 12 p.m. in game six of the regional tournament and must defeat the Lyons twice to claim the regional title. Johnson & Wales sees its season come to a close with an overall record of 22-16 after winning its first NCAA Softball Tournament game earlier this afternoon against Eastern Connecticut State University, 6-3.

Eagles' pitcher Kayla Merrill  improved to 17-5 this spring with a complete game two-hit shutout. K. Merrill struck out eight batters in the effort. Jennifer Corona shouldered the loss for the Wildcats on 2 1/3 innings in the circle allowing five hits two runs (one earned) alongside two strikeouts.

K. Merrill took a perfect game into the bottom of the sixth before freshman Noelle Weiss, in as a relief pitcher, knocked a triple down the right field line. The following at-bat she was thrown out at the plate on a grounder to second, securing the shutout for the Eagles.

Husson scored one run in the second, third and fourth innings en route to the 3-0 win. In the second, Sami Schultz  singled and moved to third on back-to-back wild pitches before crossing the plate on a single by Haley Spiers.

Lyndsay Merrill (Bethel, Maine) knocked in the games second run on a single in the third before she grabbed another RBI in the bottom of the fourth to end the scoring for the day.

In the final inning, JWU sent the game-tying run to the plate after a two-out single by Emily Gorecki and Diana Amendolara was hit by a pitch, but K. Merrill worked a 2-2 strikeout to end the game.