SATURDAY NIGHT
The surprise elimination game between No. 7 seed Missouri and Washington (resulting from both teams losing to Nebraska-Omaha) is now underway. Mizzou (as the home team in this game) leads 1-0 in the top of the third... Jenna Laird's solo shot increases the Tigers' lead to 2-0, B3... T5: Back-to-back two-out singles (the second one fairly deep) give the Huskies their first run, cutting deficit to 2-1... Fly out to right ends threat... B5 Mizzou rally increases its lead to 4-1... Huskies down to their final three outs as they bat in the top of the seventh... A quick 1-2-3 half-inning sends U-Dub back to Seattle...
No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette, having lost earlier today to Baylor, is in a struggle to stay alive, tied 1-1 with Princeton, who is batting in the bottom of the seventh... A triple and a sac-fly put ULL ahead 2-1 in the top of the eighth and Princeton goes quietly in the bottom half... Ragin' Cajuns survive...
No. 12 Arkansas and Villanova are only in the fourth inning, but the Razorbacks, having lost earlier today to Arizona, trail 'Nova 2-1 in an elimination game... Villanova now leads Arkansas 6-2, B5... It's a final, 7-2, as Arkansas is eliminated on its home field...
What looked like a quick trip back to Ann Arbor this afternoon got a lot better for Michigan, who will now play Sunday in the final of the Stillwater, Oklahoma regional, needing to beat Oklahoma State twice to move on. Facing Northern Colorado in an elimination game, the Wolverines trailed 2-0 as they came up to bat in the bottom of third. UM then scored a run each in the third and the sixth to tie things, 2-2, before Maddie Erickson belted a two-out, two-run homer to left for the 4-2 win (video)... Michigan then came right back and avenged yesterday's loss to Kentucky by eliminating the Wildcats, 4-2. After UK scored a run in the top of the fourth to cut UM's lead to 4-2, there was no further scoring.
LATER SATURDAY
Virginia Tech out to a quick 3-0 lead at No. 6 UCLA in the top of the first... This game swings back and forth a few times, with the Hokies leading 4-0 after two, the Bruins leading 5-4 after four, the Hokies leading 6-5 going into the bottom of the seventh, and the Bruins putting up two on a walk, triple, and single without any batters being retired to win 7-6...
Nebraska-Omaha's magic continues with a 3-2 win over Washington... The Mavericks are now the only unbeaten team in the Columbia, Missouri regional.
EARLY SATURDAY
As I write at mid-afternoon Saturday, two nationally seeded teams have lost so far in the NCAA regionals.
One is No. 7 Missouri, which fell yesterday to Nebraska-Omaha, 3-1, in nine innings. A two-run homer from Ava Rongisch in the top of the ninth (video) was the difference.
The other is No. 11 Georgia, which today dropped a 7-3 decision to Liberty.
A seeded team currently in trouble is No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette, which trails Baylor 7-0 midway through the second inning. Bears 8-0 is your final...
Other current games that appear competitive, although only in their early stages, are:
- Arizona at No. 12 Arkansas, in which the Wildcats have tallied two in the top of the first... UPDATE: Arizona maintains 2-0 lead as Arkansas comes up in bottom of the seventh... Hogs get leadoff homer to cut deficit to 2-1... Fly to right for first out... K for second out... Fly to left ends the game...
- Oregon at No. 2 Oklahoma, where the Ducks put up a run in the top of the first and the Sooners countered with two in the bottom half of the inning... UPDATE: Sooners open up lead to 6-1 after six complete...
- South Alabama at No. 4 Florida, tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the third... UPDATE: Gators lead 8-1, bottom five...
- Texas State at No. 16 Texas A&M, a game the Aggies lead 1-0 in the bottom of the third... No further scoring, as A&M ekes out a 1-0 win...