Husky Rally Falls Short Against UCLA At CWS

Friday, May 26

Oklahoma City, Okla

6:00 PM

University of Washington

62-8

UCLA

45-11-1

#2 UCLA Bruins

#1 Washington

Top-Ranked Huskies Advance To Fifth Straight College World Series

May 27, 2000 | Softball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

May 27, 2000

Box Score

OKLAHOMA CITY - After an electrifying over-night suspension of play because of a lighting storm and the threat of a tornado, Jaime Clark tried to do the same for the crowd by delivering a one-out, two-run double with the bases loaded on Saturday morning. But the effort fell short and Washington suffered a 3-2 loss to UCLA. at the College World Series.

The game, which began at 6 p.m. on Friday, was suspended with the Bruins holding a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. After a leadoff walk to Rosie Leutzinger, an out and a line single to left by Kim DePaul, Jenny Topping stepped to the plate at 7:54 p.m. A passed ball advanced the runners to second and third and prompted an intentional walk to Topping, the nation's home run leader. But, with the count at 3-0, the tournament director abruptly stopped play at 7:55 p.m. and the crowd and teams were evacuated. A spectacular lightning storm followed, but no tornado developed.

Play resumed Saturday at 9 a.m. with the Bruins' Amanda Freed (27-7) issuing the walk to Topping. With a night's sleep to think about the situation, freshman All-American Jaime Clark greeted Freed's first pitch with a double to deep left-center field, scoring Leutzinger and DePaul. The shot was not enough to send Topping home from first, however, and Freed shut Washington down in the final two innings.

"I slept great last night," Clark said, when asked about having a night to think about the situation. "I don't do too well when I think too much. I just tried to think of it as a normal game, I didn't try to be superhuman. I just looked to see the ball and react to whatever I saw."

The Huskies left nine on and suffered from an atypical defensive lapse on a run-scoring ploy by UCLA in the second inning. Julie Marshall singled and was forced at second, putting Lyndsey Klein at first. With two out, Tairia Mims singled to center sending Klein to third. Mims advanced to second on the throw to third and, as the Husky defense lethargically returned the ball to Graves, Klein broke for home and Mims went to third. They pulled off the double steal and Washington trailed, 1-0.

The Huskies threatened in their half of the second, when Erin Helgeland lifted a single to center with two out. Leutzinger followed with a double to center, but an alert play from left fielder Lupe Brambila cut Helgeland down at the plate to end the inning. Jamie Graves (27-4) took the loss for Washington, which falls to 62-8 on the season.

The Bruins got two more runs in the third on a towering two-out home run to left by Klein after Julie Adams had singled, setting up the 3-0 lead UCLA took into the action when play resumed.

The Huskies will face the winner of the Arizona-California matchup, tonight at 9:30 p.m. (CT) in a loser out game.

REVISED SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY

35 min. after Game 5   Game 6: Oklahoma-Southern Miss

1:30 p.m.              Game 7: DePaul vs. Alabama

4 p.m.                 Game 8: California vs. Arizona

7 p.m.                 Game 9: Winner DePaul/Alabama vs. Loser Oklahoma/Southern Miss

9:30 p.m.              Game 10: Winner Cal/Arizona vs. Washington

May 26, 2000
No. 3 UCLA 3, No. 1 Washington 2

UCLA         012 000 0   3 9 0
Washington   000 020 0   2 5 0

Amanda Freed and Julie Marshall, Jamie Graves, Jennifer Spediacci (7) and Jenny Topping. WP-Freed (27-7). LP-Graves (27-4). LOB-UCLA: 9, UW: 9. 2B-UW: Leutzinger, Clark. HR-UCLA: Klein.