Huskies Walk-Off With Pac-10 Championship

Sunday, May 9

Seattle, Wash.

12:00 PM

University of Washington

43-5, 15-3

Stanford

33-17, 5-13

Stanford

Washington

May 09, 2010 | Softball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

May 9, 2010

Box Score

SEATTLE - Junior Jenn Salling ripped a one-out RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday to lift the No. 1 Washington softball team to a 1-0 win over Stanford, its second walk-off victory in as many days.

The victory, coupled with second-place UCLA's 4-2 loss to California, gives Washington (43-5, 15-3) its third-ever Pac-10 title and first since 2000.

In front of a season-high crowd of 2,159 on Senior Day, the Huskies gave their fans - and seniors - a finish to remember for the second-straight day. On Saturday, Danielle Lawrie launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to give UW a 2-1 victory. This time with Lawrie on deck, Salling sent Kimi Pohlman all the way around from first with her drive to the right-center gap, giving head coach Heather Tarr her first Pac-10 title as a coach.

It marks UW's first outright conference title since 1996, when Tarr played third base for the Huskies.

The win gave UW a three-game sweep of the Cardinal (33-17, 5-13) and they have now won all six series in conference play, three via the sweep. Since a 4-0 loss at Oregon on April 17 that dropped UW into a tie for first with the Ducks, the Huskies have won nine of 10 games - including seven in a row - to run away with the conference title.

Likewise, Lawrie has been nearly unhittable since that game, when she gave up a season-high tying for runs. She is 9-0 with a 0.23 ERA since the Ducks roughed her up, allowing just two runs in 61 innings and striking out 109 batters.

On Sunday, Lawrie (33-2) allowed just one hit - which came in the first inning - in eight innings and struck out 10 while walking just two. She has now struck out 10 or more in eight of the last nine games and 13 of 15, all coming against Pac-10 teams which boast some of the best lineups in the nation. She also moved within 11 strikeouts of the Pac-10's all-time career record.

Stanford starter Ashley Chinn matched Lawrie nearly pitch for pitch for the second straight day, however, holding the Huskies to five hits after allowing just four on Saturday.

The Cardinal had the first chance to score in the pitcher's duel, putting the leadoff hitter on via a Husky error to start the second, but freshman Shawna Wright gunned down Jenna Rich trying to steal, the Pac-10-high 12th runner Wright has thrown out this year.

Stanford would then mount a big threat in the third, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. Lawrie allowed her first walk of the game to the leadoff hitter then fielded a bunt attempt but threw over Hooch Fagaly's head at first, allowing Melisa Koutz to advance to third.

But Lawrie and the Huskies would work their way out of the jam, first getting a shallow fly out to left field that wasn't deep enough to score the run from third. Ashley Hansen, who hit a home run off Lawrie on Saturday for Stanford's only run of the weekend, then hit a line smash to second baseman Amanda Fleischman, who snared the ball in the air and threw to third to double up the runner and keep the game scoreless.

That would be as close as Stanford would come to breaking through as Lawrie retired 14 batters in a row until a leadoff walk to start the eighth inning. She struck out seven of those 14 batters, including six of seven over one stretch.

Stanford would dodge a bullet of their own in the third inning when the Huskies put runners on first and second with no one out and the top of their lineup coming to the plate. Senior Bailey Stenson led off the inning with a double to the left-center gap and Fleischman followed with a walk to bring up Pohlman, Salling and Lawrie. But Chinn pitched to the outside corner of the plate to perfection, getting all three to ground out to the left side of the infield for three-consecutive force outs at third.

Chinn then matched Lawrie nearly out for out, retiring 13 straight until she walked Niki Williams with one out in the seventh. Morgan Stuart then singled to the left side to move Williams to third but Chinn would strike out the next two batters to send the game into extra innings.

Lawrie would have to thwart one more rally in the eighth, allowing a leadoff walk but Fagaly pounced on a sacrifice bunt attempt and fired to second to get pinch-runner Teagan Gerhart. Lawrie then induced a pop out before recording her 10th strikeout of the game to set the stage for a second-straight walk off win.

Fleischman started things off with a single to left but was forced out at second on Pohlman's grounder to short. Then, with Saturday's walk-off hero Lawrie on deck, Salling decided to be the hero this time, drilling a ball into the right-center gap to send the Huskies' fastest runner speeding around the bases. The throw arrived at the same time as Pohlman but a hard slide jarred the ball loose, setting off a celebration at home plate as the Huskies celebrated not only the win but their first Pac-10 title in the Heather Tarr era.

The 15 wins in conference play are UW's most since Tarr came to UW in 2005 and the second-most the Huskies have won since the conference switched to three-game rather than four-game series in 2000.

UW also improved to 16-1 at Husky Softball Stadium this year, breaking their previous best record in school history of 15-1 set last year.

Lawrie, who lowered her ERA for the season to 0.92 - the lowest it's been since April 10 - earned her nation-leading 19th shutout of the season. That mark is just two shy of equaling her own single-season school record of 21 set last year. She also moved into third on the single-season charts for strikeouts in a season (392) and fourth in wins (33).

The reigning Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year is 15-2 in conference games with a 0.86 ERA, 197 Ks and seven shutouts.

The Huskies will now head to Tempe, Ariz., for their final tune-up before NCAA Regionals kick off May 21-23. The Huskies and Sun Devils will square off Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 15 at Noon before finding out their NCAA Regional fate on Sunday, May 16. The NCAA Selection Show will air at 7 p.m. PT on ESPNU.