SAN ANGELO, Texas - Katie Petersen weaved a two-hit shutout and Midwestern State took advantage of a miscue to score a 2-0 win over No. 11 St. Mary's Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional at the ASU Softball Complex.

"We had to play great defense and stay calm in tough situations," MSU coach Brady Tigert said. "The girls did exactly what we needed them to do."

Petersen and St. Mary's ace Malissa Magee matched zeroes through the first seven inning before an error by Rattlers' shortstop Sade Moore opened the door for the Mustangs in the eighth.

"We knew whoever made the first critical error of the game was probably going to lose," Tigert said.

MSU's Maranda Bishop served a 2-1 offering from Magee into center field for a one-out single, then stole second base when Jessica Rodriguez struck out looking for the seventh out of the inning.

Kristen Stonecipher followed with a ball that hopped toward Moore at shortstop.

"Maranda did a heckuva job getting in front of the ball going to third and made her mess up," Tigert said. "When (Moore) bobbled it, I thought she'd come to the plate with it. Maranda instinctively broke for home and scored."

The Mustangs added another run after Stonecipher stole second and scored from there on a Lauren Craig infield single to give Petersen a 2-0 pad going into the bottom of the inning.

Petersen, who had fanned five of the first seven she faced and retired her first 12 hitters, allowed a one-out walk before closing out the Rattlers to improve to 26-8 on the season.

"When she's on, she's almost unhittable," Tigert said. "That's what we needed from her. I'm really proud of her."

Petersen struck out nine and walked one in eight innings, while Magee slipped to 36-7 after allowing two unearned runs on five hits. Magee had nien strike outs and three walks.

The Mustangs (36-27) advance to face Southeastern Oklahoma in the winner's bracket on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Southeastern Oklahoma claimed a 2-0 win over Central Oklahoma earlier on Wednesday on the strength of a Marjorie Johnson no-hitter.

SOSU has defeated the Mustangs in each of its meetings this season.

"Being 0-5 (against SOSU), we go in with a mindset of, 'can we beat them,'" Tigert said. "We're pretty confident going into the game, but we'll be in the same situation as we were with St. Mary's. It'll be whoever blinks first."

St. Mary's (53-11) plays Central Oklahoma in an elimination game Thursday morning at 11 o'clock.
 

2008 NCAA Division II South Central Regional Schedule

Angelo State Softball Field
San Angelo, Texas

Wednesday, May 7
Game 1: Southeastern Oklahoma 2, Central Oklahoma 0
Game 2: Midwestern State 2, St. Mary's 0
Game 3: St. Edward's 3, Abilene Christian 1
Game 4: Angelo State 9, Fort Lewis 1

Thursday, May 8
Game 5: (6) Central Oklahoma vs. (2) St. Mary's, 11:30 a.m.
Game 6: (5) Abilene Christian vs. (8) Fort Lewis, 2:00 p.m.
Game 7: (3) Southeastern Oklahoma vs. (7) Midwestern State, 4:30 p.m.
Game 8: (4) St. Edward's vs. (1) Angelo State, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, May 9
Game 9: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 11 a.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 1:30 p.m.
Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4 p.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 10
Game 13: Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 11, 1 p.m.
Game 14: Winner 11 vs. Winner Game 13, 4 p.m.

Sunday, May 11
Game 15: Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14 (if necessary)