No. 1 Huskies Survive Marathon Day To Advance To Semifinals

Friday, March 3

Columbus, Ga.

7:30 PM

University of Washington

1-0

UIC

0-1

Washington

Illinois Chicago

No. 1 Huskies Survive Marathon Day To Advance To Semifinals

March 04, 2000 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Washington Athletics

March 4, 2000

Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ga. - The top-ranked Huskies likely set a record for number of hours at a softball field by a Division I school at a major tournament, beginning their first game at 10 a.m. Saturday and concluding their last at 12:27 a.m. Sunday. Washington defeated Florida, 6-1, to start the day, spent nine minutes pinning the end of a win on No. 17 Illinois-Chicago at 3:05 p.m., 6-0, and came from behind to topple No. 23 Nebraska, 10-2, in a 2:42 game that began late.

Washington is 22-1 and will face No. 5 Louisiana State for the third time this year in the semifinals of the NFCA Leadoff Classic. LSU defeated Arizona State in their quarterfinal game earlier in the evening.

The Huskies used a five-run fifth inning, including a three-run homer by sophomore Shannon Walsh, to bury the Huskers. Junior Kelly Hauxhurst and redshirt freshman Jenny Topping also added dingers in the game to up UW's total of 10 different players to hit four-baggers this season and pull within one of tying the program's season record. Senior Jennifer Spediacci (10-1) struck out 12 in the victory.

The Huskies put six runs across the plate off 13 singles and doubles for the win against Florida in UW's ninth shutout of the season. Hauxhurst and junior Jaime Clark brought Hauxhurst home. The Gators answered in the second, but Hauxhurst scored her second of three runs in the third when she doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and came home on a Topping single.

Three hits in the fifth produced three more runs. DePaul walked and Topping bunted her to second for a hit. Clark doubled DePaul home and pinch runner Jessica Bork to third before an error during senior Jamie Graves' at-bat helped Bork score. Clark then moved to third on a Spediacci single before junior Christie Rosenblad knocked her in.

The final run came in the sixth inning, when Hauxhurst walked, stole second and third, and scored off a double by Topping. Graves earned her 12th win in as many decisions, going four innings before Spediacci earned the first Husky save of the year with four strikeouts.

It took Washington nine minutes to finish its lightning-delayed game from last night against No. 17 Illinois-Chicago. Picking it up with senior Erin Helgeland at third and Hauxhurst with a 2-0 count with two outs in the top of the seventh and UW up, 2-0, Hauxhurst and DePaul walked to load the bases. Topping's third grand slam of the season was her second homer of the game and made it 6-0. Washington has five grand slams this season.

Spediacci finished the game in similar fashion to how she began it. After striking out the side with nine pitches to start the game, and whiffing the first two in the second inning, Spediacci fanned two of the last three to end the outing. She improved to 9-1 on the season, picking up 10 strikeouts for the game.

Mar. 4, 2000
No. 1 Washington 6, Florida 1

Washington	101 031 0      6 13 1
Florida         010 000 0      1 3 1

Jamie Graves, Jennifer Spediacci (5) and Jeanine Giordano, Jenny Topping (5), Nicole Michael, Beth Dieter (5) and Emily Marino. WP-Graves (12-0). LP-Michael (3-1). Sv-Spediacci (1). LOB-UW 10, UF 4. 2B-UW: Hauxhurst, Topping, Clark, UF: Lutsi.

No. 1 Washington 6, No. 17 Illinois-Chicago 0

Illinois-Chicago  010 001 4      6 9 0
Washington        000 000 0      0 3 0

Rory Gonzales-Gould and Stephanie Christoferson, Jennifer Spediacci and Jenny Topping. WP-Spediacci (9-1). LP-Gonzales-Gould. LOB-UW 6, UIC 4. 2B-UW: Clark. HR-UW: Topping 2.

No. 1 Washington 10, No. 23 Nebraska 2

Nebraska        101 000 0      2 5 1
Washington      002 052 1      10 11 2

Jenny Voss, Penny Cope (4), Lori Tschannen (5) and Amber Burgess, Heather Martin (7), Jennifer Spediacci, Shannon Walsh (7) and Jenny Topping. WP-Spediacci (10-1). LP-Cope. LOB-NU 7, UW 8. 2B-NU: Lizama, UW: Leutzinger, Clark. HR-UW: Topping, Walsh, Hauxhurst.