The Terrific Ten has you covered on all the best highlights from all the action across college softball on Thursday!
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1. Let’s start out in Cathedral City, where Megan Faraimo ended the day with a bang at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. The UCLA ace no-hit the Florida Gators in a 5-inning, run-rule-shortened affair. Faraimo notched nine strikeouts and walked one, the only blemish on an otherwise-perfect performance. UCLA took the win in a 10-0 final score in what was *supposed* to be a matchup of top-3 teams.
Prior to Thursday night’s gem by Faraimo, the last time that a UCLA pitcher threw a no-hitter against a top-3 opponent was Keira Goerl, who accomplished the feat against then-#2 Stanford in March 2003.
2. Kentucky raised eyebrows and Kayla Kowalik set a record out at the MNCC, making their own triumphant entry to the tournament. In a game against fellow-ranked team Washington, the Cats held an early lead that the Huskies came back and tied to force extra innings. In the 8th inning, though, the Cats went wild, sending twelve batters to the plate, including six who recorded base hits, and UK scored eight runs. The final score was a lopsided 11-3 in 8 innings.
3. On Kowalik’s record-setting showing, it was the all-time program hits record that the UK superstar took down, notching her 286th career base knock and breaking the Wildcat record that had stood since 2001.
“I definitely think that it’s a really cool thing,” Kowalik said after the game. “Kentucky is such a big program and has been such a historical program, especially under coach Lawson… for me to be able to accomplish that just means the world. I don’t think there’s any other university that I’d want to do it for or any other head coach.”
4. It was a matchup of Top 25 opponents in Fayetteville, with Arizona in town to take on the hosting Arkansas Razorbacks in a doubleheader. Game 1 was all Hogs, with Arkansas holding a 2-0 lead for much of the game and winning in a 7th-inning walk-off after the Wildcats tied the game in the top half of the 7th. Hannah Gammill was the hero in Game 1, with a walk-off single off Devyn Netz that won the game for her squad. Netz was the hero of the day for Arizona, but with her bat more than her arm; the starting pitcher in game 1 and the closer in game 2, Netz’s two-run home run tied the first game and her second home run of the day – this one a 3-run shot – gave the Cats a lead in game 2 that they would not relinquish en route to splitting the doubleheader.
5.Charlotte brought the big bats to their Thursday evening matchup with Boston, as the Niners hit five home runs in the game en route to an 11-1 final score. Boo Vannoy and Ashleigh Washington notched two home runs apiece, accounting for seven of their team’s eleven runs, and Vannoy also broke the Charlotte program’s career RBI record with her 159th career run driven in.
