Fresno State Wins School’s First Title

Fresno State won its first NCAA national championship in any sport when its softball team defeated Arizona, 1-0, to take the women’s College World Series on Monday.

Fresno State (52-11) had lost four previous softball championship games, most recently a 2-0 setback to UCLA in 1990 and had lost three games to Arizona this season.

In Monday’s final, Nina Lindenberg’s home run provided all the scoring as pitcher Amanda Scott limited the Wildcats to three singles. The victory ended a 29-game winning streak for Arizona (67-4), which had won the national title the previous two years. “No question UCLA and Arizona have dominated for a long time,” Fresno State Coach Margie Wright said. “It’s nice to be one of the little schools that come through and win it.”