Kirker’s RBI one of many
GLENDALE — The following are updates on area athletes at the collegiate level.
Baillie Kirker (Crescenta Valley High, 2009) freshman, University of Arizona softball: Long postseason runs were a staple of Kirker’s Falcons career and the freshman first baseman helped the 10th-seeded Wildcats extend theirs on Saturday with a 10-2 win over BYU in the Tucson Super Regional of the NCAA Softball Championships.
By sweeping the Cougars in the best-of-three series, the Wildcats (48-11) advanced to the Women’s College World Series for the fifth time in a row, and 22nd overall, where they will face No. 15 seed Tennessee in a first-round game on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
The Volunteers are coming off an upset of second-seeded Michigan in the Ann Arbor Super Regional.
Kirker made her second start of the series and finished one for three with a run batted in. She drove in a run to cap the scoring in Arizona’s five-run fifth inning, singling to right-center field to plate Kristen Arriola for a 10-1 lead and breaking a personal RBI drought that went back to April 25.
An inning earlier, Kirker’s grounder to third base was misplayed for an error that allowed Lini Koria to score and put Arizona up, 5-1.
Kirker, who went 0 for three in the Wildcats’ 2-1 win over the Cougars on Friday, has started every game this season and is batting .188 with seven home runs, 27 RBIs and 23 runs scored.
Kathryn Poet (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2007) junior, University of Missouri softball: Despite going hitless at the plate, Poet had plenty to celebrate on Sunday, when her team defeated Oregon, 7-2, to sweep the best-of-three NCAA Softball Championships Columbia Super Regional series.
With the victory, Missouri earned its second straight trip to the Women’s College World Series and set a new school single-season wins record of 51.
The ninth-seeded Tigers (51-11) will face 16th-seeded Hawaii in a first-round game on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
As the designated player on Sunday, Poet went 0 for four, but did reach base on a fielding error on a play that allowed the Tigers to score their fourth run of the top of the sixth inning and take a 7-2 lead.
Christian Bergman (St. Francis High, 2006) senior, UC Irvine baseball: There wasn’t much room for improvement from his previous start, but on Friday Bergman found a way, dazzling Long Beach State with nine scoreless innings in a 6-0 win.
Bergman’s second complete-game shutout of the season ran his scoreless inning streak to 24 1/3 innings and came on the heels of a May 21 win over UC Riverside, in which he twirled eight scoreless frames.
On Friday, he scattered seven hits, struck out seven, which tied his season high, and was never threatened after the Anteaters staked him to a five-run lead after the first three innings.
Bergman (8-3) has lowered his earned-run average to 3.82 and has 74 strikeouts on the year.
UC Irvine finished the regular season at 37-19 and 17-7 in the Big West Conference and will await an at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament.
Tournament selections will be announced live at 9:30 a.m. today on ESPN.