CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The No. 7-seeded Shippensburg University softball team fell to No. 2 seed Tampa in a NCAA Division II National Softball Championships opening round game on a sunny Thursday afternoon at Frost Stadium, 6-0.
 
Shippensburg (36-21) senior Alicia Ball held the No. 5-ranked Tampa (46-10) lineup to just three runs through five innings but was outdueled thanks to a lights-out pitching performance from Spartan starter Mariah Galhouse.
 
Galhouse, a finesse pitcher, kept the Raider lineup off balance by throwing her changeup in any count in a complete game shoutout performance. The righty held SU without an extra base hit,  scattering seven singles, walking none and finishing with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Tampa's Alexa Russo delivered a key two-out, two-run single to open the scoring against Ball in the bottom of the third. Tampa first baseman Abby Sulte clubbed a solo home run in the fourth, and the Spartan bats rallied for three more in the sixth to put the game away.
 
Shippensburg had two big opportunities with two runners on base against Galhouse down 3-0 in the top half of the fifth and the sixth.
 
Back-to-back two-out knocks from senior Katelyn Minney and junior Caitlyn Martell wasn't enough to push a run across in the fifth.
 
An inning later, hits from sophomore Sarah Sabocsik and sophomore Brie Wilmot to start the frame gave SU its best opportunity for a rally against Galhouse, but the Spartan righty retired the next three batters to escape damage.
 
Sabocsik and Minney finished 2-for-3 Thursday. Martell also totaled two hits, and Wilmot was 1-for-3.
 
Ball finished with five strikeouts and one walk.
 
After an off-day Friday, Shippensburg will be back in action Saturday at the DII National Softball Championships with an elimination game against No. 6 seed Pace. First pitch is slated for 1:30 p.m.