GREENCASTLE, Ind. — No. 5-ranked Ohio Northern opened the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament with a 5-1 victory over Thomas More (Ky.) Thursday morning at the DePauw Tigers Field.

The top-seeded Polar Bears improve to 38-5, while the eighth-seeded Saints fall to 22-19.

Ohio Northern advances in the winners bracket and will play again in Game 7, which is scheduled for Friday at 2 pm, against No. 22 North Central (Ill.)

TMC falls into the losers bracket of the double-elimination tournament and will face Trine (Ind.) in Game 5 at 10 am Friday.

Senior Cortney Cash threw a complete-game 2-hitter to earn the win and become the first Polar Bear in school history to post back-to-back 20-win seasons, as she improves to 20-3 on the year.

Senior Tina Mangola and sophomore Kimi Blewett each drove in a pair of runs to lead the Polar Bear offense.

"This was a solid opener for us," ONU head coach Annette Shepherd said. "Cortney threw well, we played solid defense and had some outstanding at-bats in big situations on offense. Thomas More's pitcher was very good and we adjusted well as the game went on."

Northern scored three times in the bottom of the third frame to open the scoring.

Cash started the rally by poking a single through the left side. Senior Mandi Fought then reached on a fielder's choice while trying to sacrifice and sophomore Jackie Mangola executed a sac bunt to put runenrs on second and third.

Blewett followed with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Cash and giving ONU a 1-0 lead.

Tina Mangola then singled home Fought to make it 2-0.

Sophomore Cassie Gaye singled up the middle and freshman Meghan Anten walked to lead the bases. Sophomore Katie Cretin was then hit by pitch to drive in Tina Mangola and make it a 3-0 game.

ONU extended its advantage to 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Fought singled with one out, stole second with two out and scored on a sharp single by Blewett to left.

The Saint got their run in the top of the fifth with Brittany Wegmen hit her 11th home run of the season to make it a 4-1 contest.

Northern got an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Tina Mangola drilled a ground-rule double to right center to score Jackie Mangola.