[Higlights and video interviews below!]

TYLER, TX – The 5th-ranked University of Texas at Tyler softball team took care of business in its regular season finale over visiting Mississippi College Sunday afternoon at UT Tyler Ballpark, picking up a pair of 9-2 and 8-2 victories to secure their first-ever ASC East Division title and pick up win No. 200 for the program.

"At the beginning of the year we sat down and talked about what has never been accomplished at UT Tyler," sixth-year head coach Mike Reed said. "One of those goals was winning the East division. The kids just played well and played hard and took care of business over 24 contests. That's what you have to do in the ASC East, and you can never take a night off or it will come back and get you."

Riding a season-long 13-game winning streak, the Patriots will likely jump into the top spot in the NFCA Poll come Wednesday, a feat they have accomplished the last two years. UT Tyler improved to 35-5 overall and 20-4 in the ASC East, winning the division by a game over No. 1 Louisiana College thanks to winning 3 of 4 in the season series. The Choctaws finished the regular season 29-11 and 15-9 in ASC play, a game out of the third and final playoff spot.

The Patriots came out firing in Game 1, taking a 7-1 lead after three. Whitney Wyly's two-RBI single in the second opened up a 1-0 ballgame, while Megan Hutson's solo shot to leadoff the third was part of a three-run frame that ended on Joey Cronin's two-RBI single to left-center.

MS College would add a single run in the sixth off Reagan Jackson's fielder's choice before Rachel Howell's two-RBI single in the bottom of the frame put the game away for UT Tyler.

Stacy Shepherd scattered five hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out five to improve to 17-0 in the circle. With her strikeout of Becca Boone in the second inning, she became the first pitcher in school history to eclipse 200 career strikeouts, finishing the night at 202.

A pair of three-run home runs, one from Brittanni Hanna in the first and another from Cronin in the fourth – her league-leading 11th of the year – was all the run support M'Lynn Tillery would need in earning the win in Game 2.

Two hit-by-pitches delivered to Cronin and Wyly in the first allowed Hanna to launch her fifth homer of the year over the leftfield wall on the second pitch she saw from Choctaw starter Kim Mason.

The teams would go scoreless through the next two innings before MS College clawed back within 3-2 in the fourth thanks to Jackson's two-out, two-RBI single up the middle.

The Choctaws wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way, however, as the Patriots responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame that stretched the lead back out to 6-2 after four. Ashley Klores' leadoff single, followed by Allison Hurt's sac bunt and Whitney Haynes' walk, allowed Cronin to blast UT Tyler's second three-run bomb of the game.

Single runs off RBI-singles from Hurt in the fifth and Hanna in the sixth capped the scoring for the game. Tillery then struck out Morgan Gillenwater for the final out and a complete-game performance, as the entire team came running out on the field and dog-pilled in front of the pitchers' circle.

UT Tyler will be the East's No. 1 seed in next week's ASC Tournament and will face the winner of Concordia and ETBU on Friday at 11 a.m. from Railroad Park in Lewisville, Texas.

-Courtesy University of Texas at Tyler Sports Information Department

Texas-Tyler celebrates after the final out:

 Texas-Tyler head coach Mike Reed:

 Texas-Tyler junior catcher Brittanni Hanna: