St. Mary’s used an NCAA Championship Game-record five homeruns to beat Kennesaw State 11-6 Thursday in Game 4 of the NCAA Division II National Softball Championship Tournament in Salem, Va.

Jamie Bertsch, Kirstin Simmons and Roni Garcia each hit one dinger, while Liz Byer hit two homers – which ties her with many players for he NCAA record for homeruns in a championship game.

Beyer drove in 5 runs with her homeruns, Bertsch drove in two. Simmons and Garcia hit solo shots.

Bertsch and Simmons each went 3 for 4 at the plate.

Starting pitcher Malissa Magee pitched five innings, giving up three earned runs. Brittany Brown came on and pitched two innings, allowing one unearned run.

The Rattlers committed three errors, which led to four runs for Kennesaw.

“Our hitters took care of business,” said Rattler Head Coach Donna Fields after the game. “We got down early, trailing by two runs, but we stayed together as a team and didn’t let it get us down.

Kennesaw scored two runs in the first off St. Mary’s errors. Bertsch came back in the second inning and tied the score with a two-run blast.

Simmons led of the third for the Rattlers with a solo bomb. In the fourth, Beyer cranked a three-run shot and Garcia hit her home run on the next at bat. The Rattlers scored a total of five runs in the fourth.

Kennesaw threatened, but could not produce more than a handfull of runs at a time, while St. Mary’s seemed to score each inning.

After Kennesaw narrowed the lead to 8-5, Liz Beyer came up and hit her second homer, this one a two-run blast.

The Rattlers (49-9) will take on Northern Kentucky (55-0) Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Central.

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