TEMPE, Ariz. — If there was any question Washington’s Danielle Lawrie could repeat her record-breaking 2009 season, she showed Thursday in the Huskies’ season opener that not only can she match it, she might be ready to surpass it.
The reigning National Player of the Year pitched the first seven-inning perfect game of her career — and just the second in Husky history — and hit a solo home run and drove in two runs — leading the No. 1 ranked and defending national champion Washington softball team to a 5-0 win over Auburn in the Kajikawa Classic.
The Huskies hit three home runs in the game, including one by freshman Hooch Fagaly, to cruise in their first ever opener as the defending national champions.
Lawrie, who pitched a six-inning perfect game as a freshman in 2006 and now has five career no-hitters, struck out 16 in seven innings while walking none. She struck out the first five batters of the game and her 16 strikeouts increased her career total to 1,381, moving her from 13th to 10th place in NCAA history.
The game started on a strange note for the Huskies when leadoff hitter Kimi Pohlman was hit by a pitch and was promptly thrown out trying to steal. Pohlman was safe on her first 20 steal attempts last year as a freshman before finishing the year 20-for-21. One out later, junior Jenn Salling — playing her first full season with the Huskies — belted her first home run as a Dawg. Salling, who hit 14 home runs as a freshman at Oregon, did not hit a home run in 89 at-bats last year in a half-season with UW.
The bottom of the first was a display of what was to come for Lawrie, who started her senior season by striking out the first three Auburn hitters she faced, getting the first two batters swinging and the third looking.
The Huskies, meanwhile, were having some trouble of their own with Auburn pitcher Anna Thompson, who struck out seven Huskies in a row at one point. Thompson was sailing along, having retired 10 straight batters, when Lawrie led off the fifth inning with a long home run over the center field fence to increase Washington’s lead to 2-0.
After Auburn removed Thompson from the mound, the Huskies added some insurance in the sixth inning. Salling singled and sophomore Niki Williams walked before the two pulled off a double steal. Salling scored on a wild pitch and Lawrie followed with an RBI single to drive in Williams and give the Huskies a 4-0 lead.
Fagaly hit Washington’s third home run of the game in the seventh inning.
Pohlman helped preserve the perfect game for Lawrie in the bottom of the seventh inning, making a sliding catch of a line drive in left field. Lawrie ended the game with her 16th strikeout, her most in a seven-inning game since striking out 18 against Oregon last season.
Lawrie and Salling — UW’s Canadian duo from British Columbia — had four of UW’s five hits. Lawrie finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBI while Salling was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Lawrie and Salling’s home runs were UW’s only hits off Thompson, who nearly matched Lawrie pitch-for-pitch with 13 strikeouts in just five innings. But Lawrie was too much, holding the Tigers without a base runner in a game for the first time in their history.
The Huskies will play two more games at the Kajikawa Classic today, facing Ohio at 3:30 p.m. PST, followed by a game with 2009 NCAA tournament team Nevada at 6 p.m.
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