NCAA SOFTBALL WORLD SERIES : UCLA Faces Arizona in Title Showdown

No surprises here.

Arizona and UCLA, the two top-ranked teams in the country, eliminated their opponents without any trouble Sunday to set up a championship showdown in the Women’s College World Series today at noon PDT.

Tanya Harding notched her 13th shutout and drove in four runs in the Bruins’ 5-0 victory over upstart Iowa in front of 3,589 at Hall of Fame Stadium.

Arizona advanced with an 8-0 victory over Nevada Las Vegas.

While Harding’s presence has certainly validated the Bruins’ quest for an eighth NCAA national title, she does not hide the fact that she joined UCLA in midseason for one reason: to train for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Harding, 23, an Australian national team member, will return to her native Queensland, Australia, next week.

The Australian Olympic team will be announced in January and Harding expects to be busy training with her Aussie teammates from then until summer.

In the meantime, however, UCLA is reaping the benefits.

Against Iowa (41-26-1)--a team that came from behind to beat Michigan and Cal State Fullerton in earlier rounds--Harding made sure the Hawkeyes didn’t pull out another miracle comeback.

Her two-run single in the third gave the Bruins their first lead. Two innings later, Harding singled up the middle to drive in two more for a 4-0 advantage.

Harding (16-1) gave up five hits and struck out two.

Along with Harding, Kelly Howard, Kathi Evans, Alleah Poulson and Jenny Brewster each had two hits for UCLA (49-6).

Top-ranked Arizona continued to make a mockery of the national championship tournament by recording its seventh consecutive victory by Mercy Rule.

Alison Johnson’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the sixth scored Laura Espinoza with the Wildcats’ eighth unanswered run and the game was called immediately thereafter because of an eight-run rule.

Arizona (66-5), the two-time defending national champion, has 27 victories in shortened games this season and has outscored three World Series opponents, 28-1.