SAINT LEO, Fla. – For the second-consecutive day, the No. 7 AUM softball team fell behind before scoring a chunk of runs to go ahead and claim a victory. On Friday, it was a pair of 2-run innings in the second and third to claim a 4-2 winner's bracket game over host Saint Leo in the 2025 NCAA Division II Softball South Region Championship at Mary Canon Cabot Field.
 
The third-seeded Warhawks advance to Saturday's championship round where they will have two chances to win the regional. The initial game against an opponent to be determined will begin at 11 a.m. Central time.
 
Six different players had a hit for AUM, led by Haley Ann Frank with a pair.
 
AUM (39-11) got a strong performance from Chelisa Newsome in the circle where she finished with a complete game while scattering six hits, three walks and striking out one to improve to 16-5.
 
Saint Leo benefited from a pair of AUM fielding errors in the second to plate two. The Lions put runners at second and third with no outs before Newsome got a strike out and then a fly out, with Lindsay Corazzini scoring. Hope Epps scored a batter later, on a ground ball up the middle that was mishandled by Rebecca Komers.
 
AUM answered right back in the bottom of the second, cutting the lead in half when Lexie Bullock scored from second on a Faith Wheat slap up the middle. Two batters later, Jasmine Sneed laid down a bunt and beat the throw. Wheat never stopped running from second and was called safe at home as the tag from Corazzini was slow to be applied, tying the game at 2-2.
 
The Warhawks were back on the offensive in the third, scoring two more thanks to aggressive base running. Frank and Komers each stole second and scored from third on consecutive plays. Frank tagged from third on a heads-up play when Bullock fouled out down the line past first base and Komers crossed the plate when Meredith Kellum's ball found the grass in right center with three Lions converging on it before it hit the ground.
 
AUM is making its fifth-consecutive NCAA postseason appearance and improved to 18-11 all-time in NCAA postseason play and 12-6 in regional action.