LYNCHBURG, Va. – Ciara Luna tied a Lamar University record with her 19^th win of the season as the Cardinals advanced to the championship round of the National Invitational Softball Championship with a 5-4 victory Wednesday over Kennesaw State in a contest that spanned two days and got LU coach Holly Bruder's 40^th birthday off to a good start.
 
The Cardinals (34-29) face the winner of the winner of Wednesday's elimination game between Kennesaw State and host Liberty University in the title round at 1 p.m. Wednesday (noon Central). LU needs just one win to capture the tournament crown. The Cardinals' opponent would need two victories over LU to emerge as champion.
 
The win over top-seeded Kennesaw State (40-19) was originally slated to start at 4:04 p.m. Tuesday, but was delayed by rain for 4 hours, 30 minutes. LU led 5-4 heading to the bottom of the fifth on Tuesday when play was suspended for the night because of more rain.
 
When play finally resumed at 9:06 a.m. Wednesday, Luna (19-17), who is 6-1 in the NICS, finished off her complete game with two hitless innings on Wednesday. For the game, she allowed eight hits and four runs, all earned. She walked two and struck out seven as she tied the LU single-season mark for wins established by Laura Napoli in 2015.
 
Luna pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, getting Olivia Tamewitz to fly out to center field to end the contest.
 
Brynn Baca went 3-of-3 for the Cardinals, with two RBIs and two runs scored.
 
Abigail Green, the second of three pitchers Kennesaw State used in the game, took the loss to fall to 5-3. Green allowed three hits and two runs, both earned in two innings of relief.
 
The championship round will be shown live on ESPN3.