Huskies pull off dramatic victory
Published 12:03 pm Thursday, May 30, 2013
OKLAHOMA CITY — Before Kimberlee Souza stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, she stopped for a chat with her coach, Heather Tarr.
“Coach Tarr talked to me and calmed me down,” Souza said. “(She) told me ‘Get a good pitch and get up there and hit it.’
“And that’s what I did.”
Souza slammed a walk-off home run to left field leading off the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday, lifting the Washington Huskies to a 4-3 comeback victory over Nebraska in the opening game of the 2013 NCAA Softball World Series.
The homer was Souza’s eighth of the season and moved Washington (44-15) into a winner’s bracket game today against Tennessee (50-10). The Lady Vols beat Florida 9-2 Thursday. Nebraska (45-15) plays Florida (57-8) in an elimination game Saturday.
Washington improved its record in extra-inning games to 4-0 this season and earned its first World Series victory since capturing the national title in 2009.
But things didn’t start well for the Huskies. Pitcher Bryana Walker hit two of the first three batters she faced and sailed another pitch to the backstop, helping the Cornhuskers build a 1-0 first-inning lead.
Washington answered in the bottom of the inning. Victoria Hayward walked and first-team All-American Kaitlin Inglesby followed two batters later with her 12th home run of the season.
“They weren’t going to give me many strikes, so when I saw that one coming, I knew that was the one I needed to capitalize on,” Inglesby said. “Luckily I connected well.”
Given a 2-1 lead, Walker settled down to retire the next six Nebraska hitters. The first hit she allowed was a single to left by Taylor Edwards leading off the fourth. After a walk, Inglesby replaced Walker in the circle. A sacrifice bunt advanced the runners and the tying run scored on a Husky error.
The Cornhuskers took a 3-2 in the fifth when Tatum Edwards scored on a wild pitch.
That advantage held up until the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Hayward lined a triple to right field and scored the tying run on Hooch Fagaly’s squeeze bunt.
“When (Tarr) put on the squeeze, you always get a little giddy and excited knowing that it’s coming,” Hayward said, “but Hooch is a great bunter, and I … had 100 percent faith she would get it down.”
After the Huskies held Nebraska scoreless in the top of the eighth, Souza homered off freshman Emily Lockman (15-6) on the first pitch in the bottom half of the inning. Lockman had fanned Souza earlier in the game.
“She just adjusted and she won that at-bat,” Lockman said. “I mean, I went all out and she went all out, and she just happened to win.”
Inglesby (23-7) earned the victory in relief, allowing one run on four hits over the final five innings.
