Softball One Win Away From WCWS After Toppling No. 1 Arizona in Tucson

TUCSON, Ariz. The No. 21 Oklahoma softball team defeated No. 1 Arizona 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at Hillenbrand Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., and is one win away from punching its ticket to a fifth straight Women's College World Series.

The win propelled the Sooners to the regional championship on Sunday at 3 p.m. (CST). They will have to be defeated twice to be eliminated. The Sooners will face off with the No. 5 seed, Louisiana-Lafayette after it eliminated Arizona Saturday night with a 5-0 victory.

“We were ready to give everything we had as a team in this game,” said OU head coach Patty Gasso following the team's win. “We executed well, we bunted, we hit with runners on base, the execution was fantastic. (OU starting pitcher) Kami (Keiter) struggled early, but she battled through and pitched well.”

The Sooners have won 19 straight regional games and victory No. 20 would send them to their fifth consecutive Women's College World Series. The win marks the first time in OU softball history that the Sooners have defeated the top-ranked team in the land. Oklahoma improved to 43-19-1 on the season and 3-0 in regional action. Arizona dropped to 55-5 and 2-1 in regional contests.

Tucson NCAA Regional

Gasso couldn't have scripted the opening inning any better. Freshman leadoff hitter Norrelle Dickson (2-for-4, one run) skipped a single up the middle. She was sacrificed over by Kristin Vesely (0-for-2) and driven in on a single down the left-field line by junior Christina Enea (2-for-3, RBI). The Sooners jumped on the Cats early and headed into the field with a 1-0 lead.

“Christina (Enea) is a ham,” said Gasso. “She loves the spotlight and loves the big games. We moved her up to the fourth spot in the lineup because she has been hitting so well. It clearly paid off today.”

Arizona threatened with two outs and runners at first and third in the bottom half but Keiter worked back from a 3-0 count to strike out Wildcats third baseman Jackie Colburn.

The top of the Sooner lineup rallied again in the third inning off USA Softball Player of the Year finalist Alicia Hollowell. Vesely reached on a two-out error. Then Heather Scaglione (1-for-4) laced a double down the left field line. Vesely was headed home all the way and met Arizona catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest at home. Vandergeest pinned the head-first diving speedster a foot short of home plate to end the OU rally.

Vandergeest didn't kill the OU offense for good though. OU posted two runs in the fourth inning as the bottom half of the lineup did the damage this time.

A mental error by Colburn put Sooners at first and third with one out. Mariee Mena (1-for-3, RBI) poked a single through the left side to score pinch runner Jade Prather (one run) . April Valdez (1-for-3, RBI), who drove in the Sooners' only run in their loss to U-of-A on March 19, ripped a single up the middle to score the Sooners' third run.

OU was in rare company with its short-lived 3-0 lead. The Sooners became just one of five opponents to lead Arizona by two or more runs this season. The end result of 3-2 meant all five of Arizona's losses have come by one run this season.

The three-run lead was short lived because Arizona quickly answered courtesy of a leadoff solo home run by Wendy Allen to begin the bottom of the fourth. Keiter would later walk the bases full, but the Wildcats could only push across one more run on a Samantha Quintero single to right field.

“I felt I was trying to do too much and was getting away from what I know (when Arizona scored two runs in the fourth),” said Keiter. “I talked with coach (Melyssa) Lombarbi and went back to what I've had success with.”

Keiter made the one-run lead hold up through the final three frames. She faced five batters over the minimum in the last three innings but none advanced past second base. Her pitching line was highlighted by seven strikeouts, which was one more than Hollowell, who has 499 this season compared to Keiter's 163.

For Keiter it was win No. 20 compared to 12 losses. For Hollowell it was loss No. 3 compared to 41 victories.

Tomorrow's game/s will be broadcast live on CSTV. The game will also be picked up live following the OU baseball game in Lincoln, Neb., (noon start time) on KREF (1400 AM) with Tony Sellars pulling the one-man show. Fans who can't wait for baseball to end can purchase the Yahoo! Oklahoma sports package for $4.95 and listen to the game in its entirety.