WOMEN’S SOFTBALL / COLLEGE WORLD SERIES : CS Northridge, CS Long Beach Are Defeated

Southwestern Louisiana’s Kyla Hall pitched a four-hitter as the Ragin’ Cajuns upset second-ranked Cal State Northridge, 4-2, in a first-round game of the Women’s College Softball World Series before 2,311 at Hall of Fame Stadium on Friday.

Southwestern Louisiana (55-5), which will face Arizona today in a second-round game at 4 p.m. PDT, sent the Matadors (47-8-1) to the loser’s bracket to face Cal State Long Beach today at 11 a.m.

Hall (28-1), a junior right-hander, entered the game with an 0.52 earned-run average.

She had seven strikeouts.

“The bottom line is we haven’t hit the ball. We didn’t hit it in regionals and we’re not hitting it here,” Northridge Coach Gary Torgeson said. “We don’t hit the ball, we don’t win.”

Southwestern Louisiana broke open a scoreless game with four runs on four hits during the sixth inning, sparked by Tami Pearson’s leadoff triple.

Northridge rallied during the bottom of the seventh to score two runs on two hits and an error. But with runners at second and third and two out, All-American Beth Calcante popped up to center field to end it.

Arizona 6, Cal State Long Beach 0--The Wildcats had 13 hits--all singles--to beat Long Beach (45-20) in another first-round game.

Third-ranked Arizona (41-7), which had seven hits in the first two innings, scored twice during the bottom of the first on Laura Espinoza’s two-run single, the fourth consecutive hit of the inning.

Arizona’s three-run fourth inning gave the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.

Jody Pruitt, a second-team All-American, led the Wildcats with three hits. Amy Chellevold and Jamie Heggen, both of Thousand Oaks, each went two for four and scored two runs.