For the second consecutive year the UT Tyler Patriots will play for a national softball championship.

Primrose Aholelei tossed a two-hitter to propel the No. 1 Patriots to a 2-0 win over No. 8 Western Washington on Sunday and into the NCAA Division II Softball World Series against No. 2 Tampa (Florida) in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The best-of-three national championship is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday and 2 p.m. Wednesday. If a third game is necessary it will be played at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. All games are scheduled for Frost Stadium.

On Sunday, the defending national champion Patriots defeated the same Western Washington team they defeated for the national title last year and opened the tourney with this year.

Aholelei (20-1), the senior from Honolulu, was stellar in the circle, tossing all seven innings while allowing two singles and no runs with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Sam Schott, a Spring Hill High School graduate, led the Patriots with a 2 for 2 day at the plate with RBIs with Abbie Behe and Megan Geyer.

Kaiana Kong (15-2) took the loss despite pitching well. She threw six innings, allowing seven hits (all singles) and two runs with one walk and one strikeout.

The Patriots went on top in the first inning.

All-American leadoff hitter JT Smith singled to second base and moved up on Ka’Lyn Watson’s sacrifice bunt. Smith didn’t stop running and made it all the way to third base.

She was initially called out at third on the throw, but after UT Tyler Coach Mike Reed challenged the call, it was overturned as Smith got her left hand on the base before the attempted tag.

Behe hit the ball to shallow center field, but the speedy Smith beat the throw home, scoring on the sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.

That is the way the score stayed until the sixth inning when the Patriots went on top 2-0.

Behe led off the inning with a single to right. Keona Wells pinch run for Behe. After an out, Wells moved to second on Taryn Barney’s infield single. Wells eventually scored on Geyer’s single to center for a 2-0 lead.

Aholelei then retired the Vikings 1-2-3 in the seventh for the Patriots’ win.

Bailey Krolczyk added a single for UT Tyler.

Kanilehua Pitoy had the Vikings’ first single, leading off the fourth inning. Laila Carpenter had a one-out single in the fifth.