SEWARD, Neb.- The University of Jamestown softball team bounced back from a 9-1, five-inning loss to Midland (Neb.) in the first bracket championship game, eliminating the top-seeded Warriors 3-1 Friday afternoon to move on to the best-of-three GPAC Softball Championship Series.

The No. 5 seeded Jimmies (30-18) will face Morningside (28-8), the second seed, in Sioux City, Iowa, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The second game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m., and the third game (if necessary) will be played at 5 p.m.

Midland, by virtue of their first-place finish during the GPAC regular season, has clinched one of the GPAC's two automatic berths to the NAIA National Championship. The winner of Saturday's championship series earns the second berth.

Warriors 9, Jimmies 1 (5 innings)
After recording 16 runs and 24 hits in a pair of wins Thursday, Jamestown's offense was held in check by Midland's Jaylee Hinrichs and Madison Plummer. The duo held the Jimmies to a single run on just three hits while striking out 10 batters.

Midland led 2-0 after one, then tacked on five more in the second for a 7-0 advantage.

Mariah Martinez (FR/Visalia, Calif.) drove in Katie Reisdorfer (SO/Fresno, CA) in the top of the fourth with a single to left field for UJ's run. The Warriors answered with a run in the bottom half, then scored once more in the next inning to end the game via the eight-run rule.

Katie Merchant (FR/South Haven, Minn.) (14-9) went 1 2/3 innings in the circle, allowing five runs on six hits before leaving the game. Samm Hamilton (JR/Boise, Idaho) pitched the next two innings, giving up three runs on four hits before Meghan Ramage (SR/Grand Forks, ND) went the final inning, surrendering one run and a pair of walks.

Jimmies 3, Warriors 1
Merchant responded with a complete game victory in the second championship game, allowing seven hits and just one run. She struck out six and walked one while improving her won-loss record on the year to 15-9.

Sydney Prussia (SO/Detroit Lakes, MN) led off the top of the second with a home run to left field, giving Jamestown a 1-0 lead. Midland got the run back in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 1.

In the top of the fifth, Martinez drove in the go-ahead run with one out, then one inning later, Reisdorfer doubled to score Meghan Ramage with an important insurance run.

Following the Warriors' tying run, Merchant retired six of seven and nine of the next 12 hitters.

Ramage, Morgan Geiszler (SO/Horace, ND), and Miriah Yoder (SR/Devils Lake, ND) each added hits.