Matt Higgins, Assistant Executive Director

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. -- The 2015 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Softball Playoffs opened Friday with a pair of first-round games that threw the tournament's seeding out the window in a pair of similar outings. No. 4 St. Thomas and No. 3 Gustavus both upset their higher-seeded foes behind a pair of stellar pitching performances and opportunistic offenses.

The Tommies (33-8) - who entered as the only team to ever win the MIAC Playoff title in its 11-year history - got a combined one-hit shutout in a 7-0 win over top-seeded Bethel (27-14), which won its first MIAC regular-season title and the right to host the postseason tournament. The Gusties (31-14) mirrored that performance with a 6-0 win and a four-hit shutout against second-seeded Hamline (27-12). 

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The four-team, double-elimination tournament moved to a three-day format in 2015, and all four teams will return to Ona Orth Park Saturday for three more games, before crowning the MIAC Playoff champion on Sunday. UST and Gustavus will return hoping to carry over the momentum of their strong starts, while the Royals and Pipers will try to wipe the slate clean and battle back through the bracket.

After the Royals knocked the Tommies off their perch atop the MIAC regular season standings, St. Thomas got a measure of revenge in the opening game of the MIAC Playoffs in the form of a one-hit shutout and a 7-0 victory. UST's Kendra Bowe and Katie Jo Delisle combined to pitch a gem against the MIAC's regular-season champs, with Bowe earning the win with one hit, two walks and eight strikeouts over 5.2 innings in addition to helping her cause with a three-run home run, and Delisle finished it off with 1.1 perfect innings.

UST first got on the board in the top of the second when Micaela Trainor connected for a solo home run over the left-center field fence. In the bottom of the third, it appeared Bethel was about to take a commanding lead when Caroline Kivistio hit a bases-loaded bomb down the left-field line, but the ball hooked just foul and Bowe got Kivisto to strike out looking to sidestep the danger.

The Tommies doubled their lead when Annie Boyer led off the top of the fourth with a double. Trainor moved her over to third and Danielle Tschann brought Boyer in with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Bowe's three-run blast added some insurance in the top of the sixth, and Bianca Peterson hit a solo homer to left in the top of the seventh to give UST its seventh and final run.

Trainor, Boyer and Delisle each had two hits to lead the Tommie offense, with Trainor scoring twice and driving in two more and Boyer scoring a pair of runs. Trainor, Peterson and Bowe all homered as St. Thomas racked up 11 hits in the win.

Micayla Moore had Bethel's lone hit and Angie Jackson and Kalyn Sorenson each worked a walk as the Royals managed just five base runners in the loss. Karli Persson started for the Royals and took the loss, allowing six runs on nine hits with no walks and two strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Lindsay Edeen finished up, allowing one run on two hits with one strikeout in 1.2 innings.