CLEARWATER, Fla. - The much-anticipated meeting between No. 1 and No. 2 lived up to the hype on Friday afternoon at the Eddie C. Moore Complex.

No. 2 Northwest Florida State College led 6-2 only to watch No. 1 Florida SouthWestern State College plate five runs in the bottom of the fifth and hang on for a 7-6 victory to win a second straight FCSAA Division I Softball Championship. 

With the win, the Bucs earned the FCSAA's first automatic bid to the NJCAA DI Softball World Series in Oxford, Ala. The Raiders get another shot to claim their own ticket when they play in the tournament's final game at 10 a.m. Saturday morning against the winner of Eastern Florida State College and Santa Fe College. 

After Florida SouthWestern scored two runs in their first at-bat, the Raiders took control. 

Karson McGowan's third-inning double scored a pair of runs to tie the game. She had another RBI-single in the fourth, part of a three-run inning, and Northwest Florida State added another run in the fifth to grab a 6-2 lead. 

When needed the most, the Buccaneers flexed their championship mettle.

Noelani Livingstone, who was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, started the FSW rally with a two-run single to center and later scored the tying run on Makayla Jakubuwski's sac-fly. 

Mikan Nishiya reached on an infield single and an error allowed Stephanie Basso to come around and score what proved to be the winning run. 

Zoe Yzaguirre pitched 3.1 innings in relief to earn the win and Tournament Most Outstanding Pitcher honors. 

FSW's Robert Iamurri was named FCSAA DI Softball Coach of the Year.