My apologies for the lack of updates toward the end of Sunday night's action. Blogger.com, which I use for my blogs, went down Sunday night and the situation wasn't corrected until Monday afternoon.
Arizona defeated Tennessee, 5-2, in the teams' second game of the day, and will face UCLA in the best two-of-three championship series, starting tomorrow night. The Wildcats' K'Lee Arredondo hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to pad what had been a 3-2 lead. The Vols continue to be snake-bit against Arizona, being eliminated by the Wildcats in 2006, 2007, and 2010. Below are some postings I made during the game.
Bottom 5: Arizona has scratched out a run to take a 3-2 lead.
Bottom 3: Wildcats get a two-run homer to tie things up, 2-2.
Heading to Bottom 3: Tennessee puts together a little two-out rally, making it 2-0 Vols.
Top 2: Arizona left-fielder Brittany Lastrapes makes one of the nicest catches you'll see in a long time, on a deep fly ball to left-center. Look for it on YouTube! Tennessee had a runner on second who apparently didn't think the ball would be caught and ran toward home -- she was easily doubled off second. The Vols' next two hitters got a double and walk, respectively, but a strikeout ends the threat.
It's 1-0 Vols, as Arizona walks in a run in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, Tennessee does something it couldn't do in the previous game -- get out of a jam unscathed.
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Arizona has posted an 8-0 run-rule victory over Tennessee in the teams' first Sunday match-up, turning the tables on what the Vols did to the Wildcats on opening day of the World Series. The Vol offense, which had been a juggernaut for much of the postseason, didn't even get a hit until the fifth inning.
Early in Arizona's first Sunday game against Tennessee, the Wildcats benefited yet again from a bizarre baserunning situation involving its opponent (see also yesterday's write-up of Arizona vs. Washington). The Vols had the bases loaded with one out in a scoreless game. The batter hit an easy pop-up in front of the plate, for which the home-plate umpire immediately called the infield fly-rule. The rule automatically makes the batter out and ends the play, so that the defense cannot intentionally drop the ball and easily force out at the next base a runner who has stayed close to her present base. Arizona dropped the ball anyway and Tennessee's runner on second, apparently confused by the situation, started running to third and was easily thrown out. The whole intent of the infield fly-rule is to prevent such confusion, but the Vols still got in trouble, ending what turned out to be their last serious scoring threat with the game still competitive.
UCLA made it to the championship series with a 5-2 win over Georgia in today's first action. The Bruins used a combination of power-hitting and defense to pull if off.
Arizona defeated Tennessee, 5-2, in the teams' second game of the day, and will face UCLA in the best two-of-three championship series, starting tomorrow night. The Wildcats' K'Lee Arredondo hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to pad what had been a 3-2 lead. The Vols continue to be snake-bit against Arizona, being eliminated by the Wildcats in 2006, 2007, and 2010. Below are some postings I made during the game.
Bottom 5: Arizona has scratched out a run to take a 3-2 lead.
Bottom 3: Wildcats get a two-run homer to tie things up, 2-2.
Heading to Bottom 3: Tennessee puts together a little two-out rally, making it 2-0 Vols.
Top 2: Arizona left-fielder Brittany Lastrapes makes one of the nicest catches you'll see in a long time, on a deep fly ball to left-center. Look for it on YouTube! Tennessee had a runner on second who apparently didn't think the ball would be caught and ran toward home -- she was easily doubled off second. The Vols' next two hitters got a double and walk, respectively, but a strikeout ends the threat.
It's 1-0 Vols, as Arizona walks in a run in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, Tennessee does something it couldn't do in the previous game -- get out of a jam unscathed.
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Arizona has posted an 8-0 run-rule victory over Tennessee in the teams' first Sunday match-up, turning the tables on what the Vols did to the Wildcats on opening day of the World Series. The Vol offense, which had been a juggernaut for much of the postseason, didn't even get a hit until the fifth inning.
Early in Arizona's first Sunday game against Tennessee, the Wildcats benefited yet again from a bizarre baserunning situation involving its opponent (see also yesterday's write-up of Arizona vs. Washington). The Vols had the bases loaded with one out in a scoreless game. The batter hit an easy pop-up in front of the plate, for which the home-plate umpire immediately called the infield fly-rule. The rule automatically makes the batter out and ends the play, so that the defense cannot intentionally drop the ball and easily force out at the next base a runner who has stayed close to her present base. Arizona dropped the ball anyway and Tennessee's runner on second, apparently confused by the situation, started running to third and was easily thrown out. The whole intent of the infield fly-rule is to prevent such confusion, but the Vols still got in trouble, ending what turned out to be their last serious scoring threat with the game still competitive.
UCLA made it to the championship series with a 5-2 win over Georgia in today's first action. The Bruins used a combination of power-hitting and defense to pull if off.