BRONX, N.Y. – Buoyed by an elite complete game showing from Peyton Pepkowski along with a consistent offensive presence, second-seeded Loyola Chicago dismissed No. 3 overall Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Softball Championship quarterfinal round, grounding the Flyers for virtually the entire contest before eventually notching a decisive 7-1 victory Thursday afternoon at Bahoshy Field.

Victory in hand, the Ramblers set up a semifinals clash with fourth-seeded George Mason in the winner's bracket on Friday, first pitch slated for noon ET. The winner advances to the A-10 championship final on Saturday and will await a one-loss opponent from the remainder of Friday's field.

Sparked by an initial pair of runs in the second off the bats of Abbie Gregus and Teagan Sopczak, Loyola rattled off seven unanswered runs over the course of a dominant first-ever appearance in the A-10 Softball Championship. The Ramblers tacked on two more in the third, one in the fourth and a final two to round out the sixth, only finally surrendering a run in the seventh.

For Dayton, Chloe Wong erased the shutout possibilty late in the seventh, blasting a solo home run to left center to get the Flyers on the board.

The Ramblers' Sydney Barrett led all batters with two RBI on a 2-for-3 performance while Madison Ebeling, Haley Wallace, and Gregus each contributing two hits on the day as well.

In the circle, Pepkowski (14-10) composed a complete 7.0 innings of work for Loyola, allowing just five hits with the single run while setting down three on strikes. Dayton, meanwhile, worked through five different pitchers throughout the afternoon, surrendering 11 total hits as a unit with seven runs given up (six earned) and three overall strikeouts.