The Terrific Ten has you covered on all the best highlights from all the action across college softball on Saturday!
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1. Oregon evened their series against Stanford on Saturday, beating the Cardinal in a 2-1 affair. Allee Bunker was the offensive heroine of the day, driving in both of the Ducks’ runs including with a solo home run in the sixth inning that proved the difference in the game. The Ducks snapped Stanford’s nation-leading winning streak in front of crowd of more than 2,000 and set a up a Sunday rubber match for the series win. Morgan Scott struck out four in earning the win in the circle for Oregon.
2. UNC Greensboro’s Jessie Shipley didn’t get a hit on Friday, but she more than made up for it in her team’s game against Gardner-Webb on Saturday. Shipley hit not one, not two, but three home runs, including a leadoff home run and a grand slam IN THE SAME INNING. That grand slam also clinched a run-rule victory for her Spartans.
3. Tennessee’s pitching is their gold mine this year and the Lady Vols showed why yet-again on Saturday. Karlyn Pickens shut out the LSU offense and guided the Lady Vols to a 3-0 win and a series victory in Baton Rouge. Tennessee now boasts an 18-game winning streak, tied for the longest in the nation, and have shutout LSU in each of the first two games of their conference series. Pickens collected nine strikeouts, had a no-hitter into the fourth inning, and frequently hit 74 on the televised radar gun.
4. A 2-1 game entering the seventh inning, Arizona and Utah’s Saturday game became an instant classic as both offenses came alive in the final frames. What had been a low-scoring affair turned into anything but. Utah scored a pair of runs in the top of the 7th to extend their lead, then Arizona responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame to tie the game and send it to extra innings. A two-RBI single by Utah’s Abby Dayton gave the Utes two more runs in the 8th, then Devyn Netz and Olivia DiNardo contributed RBI singles for Arizona in the bottom half to again knot things up. In the 9th inning, Utah scored on a fielder’s choice and a two-RBI single, but Arizona responded again, first with a three-run home run for Sophia Carroll before a bases-loaded walk to Allie Skaggs scored Tayler Biehl and gave UA the walk-off victory.
5. Alexis Laudenslager threw her third career no-hitter on Saturday, just the second player in Princeton program history to accomplish the feat, and the Tigers swept a doubleheader over Yale. Laudenslager struck out ten batters in the opening game of the day, throwing just five innings in the run-rule-shortened affair. It was the second time in Laudenslager’s career that she has no-hit Yale. A two-run walk-off double by Lauren Murphy clinched the 5-4 win in the nightcap.
6. A team used to low-scoring pitcher’s duels, Central Arkansas rode some high-scoring innings to sweep a doubleheader over North Florida to open ASun play. The Bears won a 1-0 affair in the first game, then scored thirteen runs across two innings to end the second game of the day in run-rule fashion. A 7-run third inning and a 6-run fourth sent 22 batters to the plate in total, vaulting the Bears’ offense to an impressive showing and the undefeated day.
7. Jordyn Rudd reminded everyone why she is one of the game’s very best; in a return to Hall of Fame Stadium for the first time since playing in the Women’s College World Series a year ago, Rudd gave her team a walk-off win with a two-run home run in the 7th inning against Auburn on Saturday. The longball was Rudd’s second hit of the ballgame and clinched a Northwestern comeback over their SEC foes. It was Rudd’s fourth dinger of the year.
8. Northern Iowa’s offense scored in four of the first six innings in their series finale against Murray State, but then the Panthers came alive in the top of the 7th with an 11-run inning that turned a solid win into an absolute rout. Three errors by the Murray State shortstop led to four UNI runs to start the 7th inning, then a two-RBI fielder’s choice, an RBI double, and a grand slam off the bat of Taylor Hogan sealed the high-scoring frame. Samantha Heyer was solid in relief for UNI, throwing 4.2 innings of work and allowing one hit, no walks, and striking out ten. Notably, Murray State pitcher Ava Ozment withstood quite the onslaught, giving up all eleven runs in the 7th inning, though only one was earned, and completing the full frame in the circle.
9. Cal State Fullerton salvaged a game against UC Davis, winning the series finale to avoid the conference-opening sweep. The Titans took the 2-0 victory a day after being swept in a doubleheader on Friday. Myka Sutherlin threw a complete-game shutout in Saturday’s affair that moved the Titans back above .500. Sutherlin allowed two hits and struck out eight in her performance; it was her fourth shutout of the year. Jessi Alcala notched an RBI single in the first inning and Daisy Munoz added a solo home run in the third to provide the scoring for the Fullerton offense.
10. How ’bout the all-out effort from Georgia Southern’s Brooke Kell? (And don’t miss head coach Sharon Perkins leading the celebratory pack to the outfield).
🕸️💎 alert at Eagle Field! @brookekell22 with the diving grab to get @GSAthletics_SB out of the inning.#NCAASoftball x 🎥 ESPN+pic.twitter.com/M6xW1WGxXK
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) March 19, 2023
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