GREENCASTLE, Ind. -- No. 5-ranked Ohio Northern scored eight unearned runs to build a 9-2 lead and held off No. 10 DePauw (Ind.) 9-6 Sunday afternoon in the finals of the NCAA Division III Greencastle Regional Softball Tournament at DePauw Tigers Field.

The Polar Bears set a school record with their 41st victory of the season and forced a Game 15 with a 41-6 record, while the Tigers move to 38-7 on the season.

The ONU victory gives DePauw its first loss of the tournament and forces a winner-take-all Game 15 in the double-elimination tournament Monday at 10 am with the regional title and a bid to the NCAA III World Series May 21-25 at Eau Claire, Wis., on the line.

The Polar Bears won the Greencastle Regional title in 2009 with a 4-1 record.

"We were very aggressive today and it paid off," ONU head coach Annette Shepherd said. "We knew that we would not have many opportunities offensively with DePauw's outstanding pitching, so we tried to take full advantage of our speed. It paid off big time. We were a little tired at the end, but held on and get to play again on Monday."

Senior Mandi Fought and sophomore Kimi Blewett each had three hits to pace the ONU offense.

Northern got on the board in the top of the first when Fought led off with a double and scored one out later with a single by Blewett to give the Polar Bears an quick 1-0 lead.

Sophomore Katie Cretin's two-out, infield single to second was the 100th of her career, making her the 31st player in school history and the sixth current player to become a member of ONU's 100-Hit Club.

In two seasons as a Polar Bear, Cretin has 100 base hits in just 279 at-bats, a career batting average of .358.

The Tigers tied the contest at 1-1 when Emma Minx doubled off the left-center field wall, just out of the reach of Fought, to score Brianne Weeks from second.

Amy Hallett hit a solo home run to left center, her first of two on the day, to lead off the bottom of the second to give DePauw a 2-1 advantage.

The Polar Bears took a 3-2 lead on some aggressive base running, scoring a pair of unearned runs on a passed ball and throwing error on the same play.

Sophomore Jackie Mangola drew a 1-out walk and went to third on a double down the left field line by Blewett, setting the stage for yet another unusual play in the tournament.

Tina Mangola drew a walk to lead the bases, but the ball got away from the DePauw catcher for a passed ball on the play.

Jackie Mangola broke for home from third, and was safe as she knocked the ball from DU pitcher Megan Soultz in a collision at the plate.

Tina Mangola then broke from first and reached second just ahead of Soultz's throw, which got away from second baseman Minx.

The ball bounced into center field and allowed Blewett to score from third, just ahead of the throw, and Tina Mangola snuck into third base just ahead of yet another throw.

Four more Tiger errors and three base hits helped ONU score six unearned runs in the top of the fourth to .

Sophomore Cassie Gaye opened the inning by reaching safely when Minx dropped a pop fly to second base.

Junior Lisa Light then laid down a scarifice bunt, but third baseman Jen Kosinski threw the ball into center field trying to cut down Gaye at second. The errant throw then went through the legs of center fielder Cymone Allen for DU's third error of the frame, allowing Gaye to score and Light to go all the way to third.

Senior Cortney Cash then reached on a fielder's choice on a sac bunt and advanced to second when no Tiger defender covered the second base bag.

Fought followed with an RBI single through the left side, scoring Light, and aggressively went to second on the throw back to shortstop.

Jackie Mangola then lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left field to score Cash and make it 6-2.

Sophomore Katie Cretin then reached on a throwing DePauw shortstop Weeks, scoring Fought from third and giving ONU a 7-2 advantage.

Freshmen Meghan Anten then singled up the middle, scoring pinch-runner junior Erica Holcomb and Cretin to cap the rally and put the Polar Bears ahead 9-2.

DePauw picked up a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to pull within 9-4 on a RBI double by Rachel MacBeth and and an infield single by Kosinski.

Hallett drilled her second solo home run of the contest with one out in the sixth to trim the ONU lead to 9-5.

The Tigers did not go quietly in the seventh, as Minx drilled a 2-out double down the right field line to score Weeks and make it a 9-6 game.

But sophomore Maggie Molnar got Holly paris to ground out to shortstop to end the contest.

Cash picked up the victory to improve to 22-4, throwing 4.1 innings. Molnar got the final eight outs and allowed just two runs as the Polar Bears forced a deciding Game 15 on Monday.