University of Washington
1-0
Utah
0-1
Softball Advances To College World Series With 9-0 Win Over Utah
May 21, 2000 | Softball
May 21, 2000
SEATTLE - Washington quickly secured its fifth straight College World Series berth on Sunday with a 9-0, five-inning win over Utah at Husky Softball Stadium in the No. 1 Region Championship. Jennifer Spediacci allowed two hits, struck out six nd knocked in the winning run to solidify her Most Outstanding Player honor.
The Huskies, 61-7, enter the CWS as the No. 1 seed and will face DePaul on Thursday at noon Central Time. DePaul, 39-20, won the No. 8 Region with four straight wins and is making its second straight appearance in the World Series. The six other teams who advanced are, in order of seed, Arizona, Oklahoma, UCLA, Alabama, Cal and Southern Miss.
Washington exploded in the first and second innings, scoring four and three runs, respectively, while sending 17 batters to the plate. UW collected 11 hits, with Jenny Topping (3-for-3), Kelly Hauxhurst (2-for-3) and Jennifer Spediacci (2-for-3) getting multiple hits.
UW batted around in the first and began by loading the bases on a fielder's choice by Kim DePaul, a walk by Topping and another fielder's choice by Jaime Clark. Spediacci then singled to bring DePaul home, and an errant throw by the center fielder allowed Topping to score. Singles by Melissa Downs and Jamie Graves helped Clark and Spediacci around to give UW a 4-0 lead.
Rosie Leutzinger was hit by a pitch to open the second frame and moved around the bases on singles by Hauxhurst and Topping, and a bases-loaded walk to Jaime Clark. Another Spediacci single and walk to Downs helped Hauxhurst and Topping score. The final two runs came in the fifth, and therefore final, inning. Hauxhurst singled and DePaul was hit by a pitch before a Topping double brought both around.
Utah pitcher Kristin Arbogast pitched the complete game today and, in fact, pitched all 33.0 innings that Utah played in the regional tournament. Molly McLean and Sunny Smith were the only two players in the tournament to get a hit off Spediacci.
Spediacci finished the weekend with two wins in two complete-game shutouts, 19 strikeouts and three walked batters in 12.0 innings. Batters hit a paltry .054 against her while she hit an outstanding .625 (5-for-8) for the tournament. Joining her on the all-tournament team were Hauxhurst (.667 hitting, 8-for-12, 6 runs), Topping (.667, 8-for-12, 8 RBI), Leutzinger (.467, 7-for-15, 4 runs) and Jamie Graves (0.50 ERA, 2-0, 13 strikeouts, 14.0 innings).
No. 1 Regional Final
No. 1 Washington 9, Utah 0
| Washington | 430 02 | 9 11 0 |
| Utah | 000 00 | 0 2 3 |
Jennifer Spediacci and Jenny Topping, Jeanine Giordano (5), Kristin Arbogast and Sunny Smith. WP-Spediacci (33-4). LP-Arbogast (40-19). LOB-UW 8, Utah 3. 2B-UW: Topping, Utah: Smith.
NO. 1 REGION ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MOP: Jennifer Spediacci, Washington, Kristin Arbogast, Utah, Jamie Graves, Washington, Kelly Hauxhurst, Washington, Niki Hayhurst, Utah, Jennifer Knowlden, Army, Rosie Leutzinger, Washington, Keri McCallum, Mississippi State, Molly McLean, Utah, Dana Reed, Chattanooga, Jenny Topping, Washington, Lyndsey Trevis, Utah.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Spediacci, Jennifer (1-0)
L: Arbogast (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Topping, Jenny 1
RBI: Topping, Jenny 2 ; Clark, Jaime 1 ; Spediacci, Jennifer 2 ; Downs, Melissa 1 ; Graves, Jamie 1 ; Helgeland, Erin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Leutzinger, Rosie 1 ; Hauxhurst, Kelly 2 ; DePaul, Kim 2 ; Topping, Jenny 2 ; Clark, Jaime 1 ; Spediacci, Jennifer 1
HBP: Leutzinger, Rosie 1 ; DePaul, Kim 1
Batting:
2B: Smith 1
