With your humble blogger in the house for the UCLA region, the national No. 2 seed Bruins by all rights should have been sent to the losers' bracket, by Nevada. The Wolfpack led 4-3 with two out for the Bruins in the top of the seventh (UCLA was officially the visitor). UCLA hit a grounder to the second-baseperson that should have ended the game, but the throw pulled the first-baseperson off the bag. The Bruins then rallied for the tying run and ultimately won 6-4 in nine innings (for fans new to softball, seven innings is the regulation length). Below, I've highlighted some key plays in bold from an online play-by-play sheet:
UCLA 7th - Camuso struck out swinging. Harrison singled to left field, advanced to second on a fielding error by lf. Schroeder, J flied out to cf. Herrera reached on a throwing error by 2b; Harrison advanced to third. Schroeder, K singled through the right side, RBI; Herrera advanced to second; Harrison scored, unearned. Colburn flied out to rf. 1 run, 2 hits, 2 errors, 2 LOB.
Neither starter -- Katie Holverson for Nevada, Anjelica "Jelly" Selden for UCLA -- got out of the second inning. However, the pitchers brought in for long relief -- Richelle "Chach" Villescas for Nevada, Megan Langenfeld for UCLA -- acquitted themselves well. Nevada also flashed the leather in the field, recording three double-plays.
As I write, Nevada is getting ready to take on Purdue in some late-night action. The winner will play UCLA tomorrow; the Bruins will need to win once to advance to the super-regionals, whereas their opponent will need to win twice.
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Two teams have already earned their way into the super-regionals, No. 3 seed Alabama and No. 15 Georgia.
One seeded team has already been eliminated, No. 14 Long Beach State. Two others, No. 9 LSU and No. 16 Fresno State, each have absorbed a single loss thus far, to Louisiana-Lafayette and Cal, respectively.
UCLA 7th - Camuso struck out swinging. Harrison singled to left field, advanced to second on a fielding error by lf. Schroeder, J flied out to cf. Herrera reached on a throwing error by 2b; Harrison advanced to third. Schroeder, K singled through the right side, RBI; Herrera advanced to second; Harrison scored, unearned. Colburn flied out to rf. 1 run, 2 hits, 2 errors, 2 LOB.
Neither starter -- Katie Holverson for Nevada, Anjelica "Jelly" Selden for UCLA -- got out of the second inning. However, the pitchers brought in for long relief -- Richelle "Chach" Villescas for Nevada, Megan Langenfeld for UCLA -- acquitted themselves well. Nevada also flashed the leather in the field, recording three double-plays.
As I write, Nevada is getting ready to take on Purdue in some late-night action. The winner will play UCLA tomorrow; the Bruins will need to win once to advance to the super-regionals, whereas their opponent will need to win twice.
***
Two teams have already earned their way into the super-regionals, No. 3 seed Alabama and No. 15 Georgia.
One seeded team has already been eliminated, No. 14 Long Beach State. Two others, No. 9 LSU and No. 16 Fresno State, each have absorbed a single loss thus far, to Louisiana-Lafayette and Cal, respectively.