'NORTON, MA- Senior co-captain Maren Schrader (Canby, OR) was 4-for-4 with two stolen bases and an RBI, while junior Lori Hill (Chestnut Hill, MA) and sophomore Kate Malloy (Cumberland, RI) posted back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to pace Wheaton College to a 6-2 elimination game victory over Keene State College in the NCAA Division III New England Regional Softball Tournament Sunday afternoon.

Now 35-8 on the season, the second-seeded Lyons advance to the regional championship against fourth-seeded Western New England College this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Wheaton needs to defeat the Golden Bears twice in order to advance to its third College World Series, while a WNEC win will send the Golden Bears to the World Series for the first time in school history. Keene State, the tournament's fifth seed, completes its season with a record of 27-14.

The Lyons jumped on the scoreboard first, scoring a single run in the second inning when Kate Malloy brought home sister Sarah Malloy (Cumberland, RI) to make the score 1-0. The Owls bounced back in the top of the fourth, as senior Shauna Mullen (Hooksett, NH) doubled in the inning's second at-bat. Junior Caroline Kurkowski (Niskayuna, NY) followed with her second homer of the tournament, and 10th of the season, to put Keene State in front 2-1.

The lead was short lived however, as Wheaton plated two runs on three hits and two Owl errors to retake the lead in the fourth. One inning later, the Lyons put the game away, as senior co-captain Rachael Powers (Quincy, MA) singled to left field. With two outs, Powers stole second and then scored on Hill's first home run of the season. Kate Malloy followed with her first homer of the year to complete the scoring.

Making her first collegiate postseason appearance, first-year Amy Rowbottom (Norridgewock, ME) improved to 4-0 on the mound, yielding two runs on three hits along with five strikeouts in five innings of work. Sophomore Jennifer Nelligan (Brockton, MA) tossed two scoreless innings of relief to preserve the victory. Sophomore Stephanie Carter (Cohoes, NY) took the loss for Keene State, dropping to 9-3 on the season. Struggling offensively for much of the tournament, Wheaton pounded out 14 hits against the Owls. Kate Malloy and junior Brianna Shawah (Pompton Plains, NJ) registered two hits apiece, with Malloy adding two RBI and a run scored.