BRONX, NY -- In a game full of twists and turns, Saint Louis third baseman Kendall Johnson made a play and throw to Jane Kaniecki who picked the ball with the bases loaded up one to preserve the game and defeat Loyola Chicago, 7-6 to advance to tomorrow's title game against No. 1 Dayton.

No. 2 Saint Louis will play in its first title game since 2014 against Dayton. Regardless of who wins, there will be a first time champion as both the Flyers and Billikens have never won a title.

Saint Louis took a 2-0 lead through three innings off RBIs by Kelsey Etling and Kaniecki. Loyola Chicago tied the game in the fourth inning off a Riley Owens RBI single and Nat Lesnicki RBI groundout.

The following inning, a Saint Louis error plated three more for the Ramblers to give them a 5-2 lead. The Billikens struck back immediately off a Cami Newbanks three run homer to take a 6-5 lead. The next inning Saint Louis added an insurance run to go up 7-5 off a Natalie Sullivan RBI double.

In the top of the seventh, down two, Loyola Chicago loaded the bases with no outs to threaten off a single and a pair of errors. The Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Isabel Royle struck out a pair before a bases loaded walk to Ava Bieneman made it a one run game. The next batter grounded out to Johnson, who had her first baseman make a nifty pick to seal the win.

Sullivan was 3-for-4 to pace the Billiken offense while Royle was huge in relief, notching two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of work to get the save.

For Loyola, Owens had three hits while Bieneman and Haley Wallace had two.

Tomorrow's championship will feature the top two seeds, No. 1 Dayton and No. 2 Saint Louis at noon on ESPN+. Dayton needs one win to win the title, Saint Louis needs two.