A pair of three-hit shutouts propelled the Peacock softball team to two wins at the NCAA Central Region Tournament. Upper Iowa defeated the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats 3-0 in the first game of the day and followed that performance with a 2-0 victory over the Minnesota State Mavericks in a rematch of the NSIC Tournament Championship Game.
 
With the win in the first game of the day over NMSU, the Peacocks earned their first NCAA Tournament victory in school history and won their 40th game of the season.
 
UIU redeemed itself against the Bearcats, a team that beat the Peacocks three times in the first eight games of the season. With the win over Minnesota State, Upper Iowa settled a season-long matchup in which the two teams were 2-2 against each other and had scored 10 runs each in the four games over 37 innings.
 
Senior Brooke Redmond (22-5) earned the victories in both games as the lefty tossed a complete game shutout against the Bearcats and went 4.2 innings against the Mavericks before giving way to senior Jacqueline Flood, who earned her third save of the year.
 
At the plate, it was senior Lauren Marlinghaus and sophomore Sammy Garrett led the Peacocks at the plate. Marlinghaus was responsible for the first run in the win over NMSU with an RBI double and hit a solo shot for the second run against MSU. Garrett led the team with four hits, including a two-RBI double to score the final two runs against Northwest Missouri State.
 
The Peacocks will now face Arkansas Tech on Saturday at 1 p.m. in a rematch of their opening round game on Thursday. UIU will need to beat the Golden Suns twice in order to advance to the Central Region Final.
 
Upper Iowa 3, Northwest Missouri State 0

The Peacocks scored all three runs in the game in the second inning. Senior Erica Kirgan led off with a single to left field, followed by a one-out single by senior Tara Duran, setting the table for the Marlinghaus RBI double. Two batters later, Garrett hit a double to left center to score Marlinghaus and Duran and gave the Peacocks a 3-0 lead.
 
Redmond retired the first nine hitters she saw and 15 of the 17 batters she saw through the first five innings.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, the Bearcats got a lead-off single and the runner advanced to second on a passed ball. The Peacock pitcher got the next hitter to fly into a double play, ending the threat.
 
Redmond got the final three NMSU batters in the bottom of the seventh in order to secure her 21st win of the season. The Basehor, Kansas native allowed just three hits and struck out six, facing just two batters over the minimum over seven innings of work.
 
Upper Iowa 2, Minnesota State 0

Once again, the Peacocks jumped out to an early lead. Freshman Sami Kay Shafranski singled and stole second in the top of the first. With two outs, junior Tara Walls singled to left and plated Shafranski for the first run of the game.
 
In the second inning, Marlinghaus hit a solo home run to left field for what proved to be the insurance run in the game.
 
Redmond scattered three hits over 4.2 innings, never allowing a runner to reach third base. Flood took over in the circle in the fifth and sent all seven batters she saw back to the dugout in order.