AUBURN, Ala. – Megan Kelly's three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted Western Illinois to a 5-2 victory over Campbell at the Tiger Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 20 at Jane B. Moore Field.

The Fighting Leathernecks (2-7) trailed 2-0 after the first inning but Kelsey Michelini and Ashley Campbell combined to shut down the Camels (6-4) over the final seven innings for the win.

The Camels got on the board with four hits in the first inning including an RBI double but Western Illinois would plate a run in the bottom of the second on Michelle Prieto's RBI single.

The Camels would threaten to score again in the fourth inning, but Anna Copeland's threw out a runner at the plate to end the inning and keep the score 2-1.

Hannah Frenell would reach second base in the bottom of the fourth inning to give the Leathernecks a runner in scoring position but the Camels would record the final two outs to hold on to a one-run lead.

Both teams would advance runners to third base in the fifth inning but neither could capitalize on the scoring opportunity as the game moved to the late innings.

The Leathernecks would tie the game in the sixth inning when Kelly reached home on an error. Michelle Prieto nearly gave Western the lead but was thrown out at home and the score remained 2-2.

Neither team was able to plate the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the contest moved on to extra frames. The Camels advanced a runner to third in the top of the eighth but the Leathernecks retired the final two batters to end the inning.

Frenell started the bottom of the eighth on second base as part of the international tiebreak rule used at the tournament. Nikki Marinec would walk in the next at bat to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Kelly stepped to the plate and launched the first pitch she saw into left field to give Western Illiniois a 5-2 walk-off win. It was the first home run of the season for Kelly and the first of her collegiate career.

"I was just trying to hit the ball somewhere that would get the runner home," said Kelly. "Putting it over the wall is the best way to do that so it felt great."

Ashley Campbell (2-2) picked up the win in relief after tossing 4.2 shutout innings. She allowed just two hits and issued one walk while striking out four.

"Ashley's been really great in relief her whole career and she's really confident right now," said head coach Holly Van Vlymen. "She knew coming in to this game what's been working for her and she stuck to her game plan."

Michelini got the start and allowed two runs on six hits in 3.1 innings. She walked five and struck out three batters.

Kelly finished the day 3-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored while Prieto and Beth Golitko each had two hits. Colleein Biebel picked up a stolen base to move one step closer to ninth place in program history in career stolen bases.

"Megan's been seeing the ball really well and hitting it hard so we knew something good was coming," said Van Vlymen. "It doesn't matter whether you're a freshman or a senior, you just have to get in there and do your job and Meg came through for us."

"We really wanted to win this game and end our time down here on a good note," said Kelly. "It will definitely give us a lot of confidence heading to Ohio in two weeks."

The Leathernecks outhit the Camels 12-8 and committed just one error in the field to Campbell's three. Western Illinois left eight runners on base while the Camels stranded 11.

Western will take this coming weekend off before returning to action at the Ohio University Tournament in Athens, Ohio on March 5 and 6. The Leathernecks will play two games each against Ohio and Cleveland State.