SALEM, Va. — Lacey Lister struck out 13, and Erin Ruest hit a two-out double in the eighth inning as Salisbury eliminated Muskingum with a 2-1, extra-inning win in a game that concluded around 1 a.m. Monday morning at the NCAA Division III National Championship. 

Salisbury’s Lacey Lister and Muskingum’s Erica Hoyt both proved why they earned 2004 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America honors earlier this week. 

Lister picked up the win as she went the full eight innings and allowed only one run on six hits while striking out 13. Hoyt allowed two runs on eight hits and had eight strikeouts in the losing effort. 

Lister worked through jams in the first three innings, and her offense finally broke through with a run in the fifth off Nichole Fuqua’s RBI single that scored Kristy Shaffer. 

She settled down in the fourth to strikeout the side, but the Muskies finally got some offensive production for Hoyt in the fifth as Erin Zupko delivered a key two-out single that plated April Rader with the tying run. 

Both pitchers dualed until the eight when Salisbury scored on Ruest’s big two-out double to left center that scored Fuqua. 

Salisbury improves to 41-7 on the year and advances to face Moravian Monday at noon EDT in a rematch of two teams that met in the second round Saturday in a game that went extra frames. Muskingum finished its season at 43-7.