No. 1 Huskies Win Kia Klassic With Wins Over Oregon State and Arizona

Sunday, March 19

Fullerton, Calif.

9:00 AM

University of Washington

1-0

Oregon State

0-1

Washington

Oregon State

UW's Graves Earns Pac-10 Pitcher Of The Week Honors

No. 1 Huskies Win Kia Klassic With Wins Over Oregon State and Arizona

March 19, 2000 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Washington Athletics

March 19, 2000

Arizona Box Score

Oregon State Box Score

FULLERTON, Calif. - Senior Jaime Clark homered for the second time of the day to lead the No. 1 Huskies to a 6-1 win over second-ranked Arizona in the championship game of the 2000 Kia Klassic. Washington improved to 31-1 and extended its winning streak to 22 games while winning its sixth tournament title of the season. Arizona falls to 35-2, with its only other loss also coming at the hands of the Huskies.

UW toppled a feisty Oregon State squad in the semifinals earlier in the day in a harried, 5-2 win in 10 innings. Senior Jamie Graves knocked her first career dinger and struck out a career-high 12 batters in 8.1 innings before Spediacci (16-1) relieved her to earn the win.

Spediacci picked up five wins in the tournament while striking out 46 in 30.2 innings, while Graves maintained a 0.00 ERA in 20.1 innings and struck out 20. The Huskies outscored their opponents 39-4 in the Kia Klassic and added eight home runs to its season total, upping the record to 47 on the season. The Dawgs will play seven more games over the next week in the area during Spring Break before beginning their Pac-10 schedule Mar. 31 at Stanford.

In the final, Washington's Rosie Leutzinger and Kelly Hauxhurst led off the game with singles, and junior Kim DePaul sacrificed them up. Redshirt freshman Jenny Topping hit a sac fly to left field to score Leutzinger.

UW then sent seven batters to the plate the next inning to get three runs off three hits. Spediacci singled, Graves doubled and Helgeland singled to score Spediacci. Leutzinger grounded out but hit Graves in, and an error during Hauxhurst's at-bat sent Helgeland home to put UW up, 4-0.

Arizona got on the board in the third frame off a hit and an error, but Clark's two-run blast over left center provided the final score after Hauxhurst had doubled. It was Clark's 12th home run of the season.

The drama, however, occurred in the semifinal bout against the Beavers. Graves' homer in the second was the only score of the game until the top of the sixth, when the Huskies pushed another run across. Topping singled, and pinch runner Becky Simpson scored on three wild pitches.

But Oregon State used three hits and an error to score two in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings. The eighth and ninth innings were defensive standoffs before the Huskies exploded for three in the top of the 10th. Per tie-breaker rules, Hauxhurst, who had made the last out of the ninth frame, began the 10th inning on second base. DePaul was hit by a pitch to set up Clark's towering game-winning shot.

Mar. 19, 2000
No. 1 Washington 5, No. 12 Oregon State 2

Washington	010 001 000 3	5 8 1
Oregon State	000 000 200 0	2 5 1

Jamie Graves, Jennifer Spediacci (9) and Jeanine Giordano, Crystal Dryper, Tarrah Beyster (7), Dryper (8) and Shelly Prochaska. WP-Spediacci (15-1). LP-Draper (9-1). LOB-UW 11, OSU 5. 2B-UW: Leutzinger, Helgeland, OSU: Adams. HR-UW: Clark, Graves.

No. 1 Washington 6, No. 2 Arizona 1

Washington	130 020 0	6 9 2
Arizona	        001 000 0	1 5 1

Jennifer Spediacci and Jenny Topping, Becky Lemke and Lindsey Collins. WP-Spediacci (16-1). LP-Lemke. LOB-UW 4, UA 8. 2B-UW: Hauxhurst, Graves. HR-UW: Clark.