SOFTBALL / COLLEGE WORLD SERIES : UCLA Bats Can’t Back Up Weiman
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite a 14-strikeout performance from UCLA’s DeeDee Weiman, Fresno State’s softball team scored the game’s only run in the seventh inning to beat the Bruins, 1-0, Thursday in the first-round of the Women’s College World Series in front of 1,596 at Hall of Fame Stadium.
It is the first opening-round loss in 12 tournament appearances for UCLA, winner of seven NCAA championships.
Fresno State (49-14) scored on Robyn Yorke’s two-out single in the seventh. She drove in Jo Pini, who was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a single by Laura Berg.
The Bruins answered by loading the bases in the bottom of the inning on two singles and a walk. But with two out, Jenny Brewster was caught looking on a full-count curveball.
“I had a feeling she was going to come inside,” Brewster said. “You’ve got to swing and hit the ball in order to score, and I didn’t do that. It was too close to take.”
The Bruins (41-13) stranded 12 runners and left the bases loaded in the fourth, fifth and seventh.
Cal State Northridge (50-8) defeated Missouri, 5-3, in another first-round game. Amy Windmiller (25-2) pitched a four-hitter and struck out 11 for the third-ranked Matadors. Missouri is 40-22.
Arizona defeated Illinois Chicago, 8-0, and Utah defeated Oklahoma State, 2-0, in the other games.
