CEDAR CITY, Utah – With their backs against the wall and knowing just one loss ends their season, the SUU softball team knew they had nothing to lose this weekend. With Northern Colorado coming to town, the Bears needed to win just one game to clinch their spot in the Big Sky Conference tournament. The Thunderbirds capped a 3-game sweep of the Bears with a 13-3 victory in five innings today to lock up the fourth and final spot in the Big Sky tournament.

With one out in the top of the first, the game's starting pitcher, Ashley Ostler, got into a bind with runners on second and third and just one out. Two groundballs later, Ostler got out of the inning unscathed. That's when the floodgates opened.

The bottom half of the first saw 13 Thunderbird batters, seven hits, including a Sara Park two-run homerun, and three errors by Northern Colorado. The inning took just over 30 minutes to finish but at the end the Thunderbirds held a 9-0 lead.

It was all SUU for the next three and a half innings, as the game would end in five innings, 13-3.

Kylee Wolf went 3-4 with three RBI's in the win and Kaitlin Williams added a 3-3 day with 2 RBI's. Ostler pitched her way to her seventh win of the season as she went five innings and allowed just seven hits.

The Thunderbirds now prepare for next week's Big Sky Conference tournament, which will be held at the same place they won last year, Idaho State.