BOX SCORE: vs. North Dakota
BOX SCORE: vs. South Dakota

GREELEY, Colo. -- There's just something about Northern Colorado's softball team, this year's 2009 NCAA Division I Independent Championship and eight-inning affairs.

Throw them all together, and more often than not this week, it's ended in heartbreak for the Bears.

Northern Colorado and South Dakota took a 3-3 tie into extra innings Saturday night before the Coyotes ended the Bears' run at this year's Independent crown with a 6-5, eight-inning semifinal victory at Butler-Hancock Softball Field.

It was the Bears' third eight-inning game out of four during this tournament and second eight-inning loss.

Northern Colorado (18-29), which played its way into the semfinal Saturday with a 9-2 victory against North Dakota in its first bracket game, will now play against Houston Baptist at 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon in the tournament's third-place game. The Bears beat the Huskies 6-4 in an eight-inning, pool-play victory Friday.

South Dakota and Seattle, which defeated HBU 9-3 in the other semifinal Saturday night, will face off for the tournament title at noon Sunday.

Northern Colorado scored two runs in its half of the eighth against South Dakota on a two-run home run from third-baseman Kailee Vessey. The blast to right-center field was Vessey's team-leading sixth long ball this season and gave the Bears what seemed like a comfortable edge and the inside track to Sunday's championship game.

But two South Dakota hits and a costly error by Vessey in the bottom half of the eighth led to three Coyotes' runs and a wild home-plate celebration by the visitors.

Kelli Henderson started in the circle for Northern Colorado, and she went the distance. She was solid throughout, surrendering just three earned runs on 10 hits, but she wasn't able to bail out her team in the eighth, and that was the difference.

Senior Katelyn Landorf continued her late-season surge with a pair of hits in the loss and Melisa Ryba finally found a place for her hard-hit balls with a two-hit performance. Ryba's hit the ball well all tournament, but only Friday did some of those shots find some grass instead of leather.

GAME 1 vs. North Dakota

Ryba started in the circle for Northern Colorado in their quarterfinal game against North Dakota, and she and the Bears were in trouble in the first inning.

Two Northern Colorado errors and a single from by the Sioux had the bases packed against Ryba and the Bears, but Ryba enduced a pop up to second, a fly out to shallow center field and a swinging strike out to get out of the inning unscathed.

From there, it was all Northern Colorado.

The Bears scored in every inning but the third and finished with 13 hits.