The Big 12 Conference got off to a bumpy start for super regionals. Mother Nature intervened.
Oklahoma State and Nebraska were supposed to play on Thursday The Cowgirls and the Cornhuskers started but their game was suspended after two hours of weather delays. The NCAA pushed their game back to Friday.
That meant that all four Big 12 teams played the first games of their best-of-three super regional series on Friday. From start to finish, it was a rather dramatic day. Here’s a wrap.
Lincoln Super Regional
No. 4 Nebraska vs. No. 13 Oklahoma State
Game 1: Nebraska 8, Oklahoma State 1
Game 2: Saturday: – 4 p.m. – ESPN2
Game 3: TBA (if necessary)
When play resumed on Friday the Cornhuskers went to work. Jesse Farrell hit a three-run home run off OSU starting pitcher Ruby Meylan in the first inning and then drove in two more runs in the third inning, which chased off the all-American. By that point, with OSU down 5-0, the Cowgirls used three other pitchers to keep their arms fresh for an elimination game on Saturday.
Oklahoma State’s only meaningful offense was a home run by Karli Godwin. For a team that has hit nearly 70 home runs this year, the Cowgirls ran into a buzzsaw with the Cornhuskers, who rode the momentum of their first super regional home series to a Game 1 win. After pitcher Jordy Frahm dominated OSU on Friday, the expectation is that the Huskers will start left-hander Alexis Jensen on Saturday. Meylan is the expected starting pitcher for OSU on Saturday.
Gainesville Super Regional
No. 6 Florida vs. No. 11 Texas Tech
Game 1: Texas Tech 10, Florida 8
Game 2: Saturday – 11:30 a.m. – ABC
Game 3: Sunday – TBD (if necessary)
Mia Williams, take a bow.
Williams broke an 8-8 tie in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run bomb over the bullpen in left field. She’s a former Florida player and her father, Jason Williams, was a former Florida basketball player. I guess it was personal? Williams was answering a home run Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady gave up in the sixth inning that tied the game at 8-8.
Canday got the win to improve to 24-5, but she came on in relief of starter Kaitlyn Terry, who gave up six hits and five runs in five innings. She also walked three. It wasn’t the best day for the Red Raider pitching tandem. Of the 18 runs in the game, 13 were scored on home runs.
But with this offense, Texas Tech can ride out a game like Friday. The Red Raiders can clinch a second straight trip to the Women’s College World Series on Saturday.
Austin Super Regional
No. 2 Texas vs. Arizona State
Game 1: Arizona State 4, Texas 1
Game 2: Saturday – 6 p.m. – ESPN
Game 3: Sunday – TBD (if necessary)
The Sun Devils remained red-hot, taking the first game of super regionals against the defending national champions. Samantha Swan did a lot of offensive damage. She singled home a run in the top of the third and then singled home two more runs in the fifth inning, part of a three-run explosion that put Arizona State in control. Ashleigh Mejia drove in the final run on a double.
That was all pitcher Kenzie Brown needed. She worked over the Texas lineup, throwing a complete-game four-hitter and only allowed one run. She struck out 10 and walked one. Arizona State can clinch a berth in the WCWS on Saturday in Austin.
Los Angeles Super Regional
No. 8 UCLA vs. UCF
Game 1: UCLA 9, UCF 1 (5 innings)
Game 2: Saturday – 8 p.m. – ESPN
Game 3: Sunday – TBD (if necessary)
UCLA was the favorite and the Bruins played like it. But it took the Bruins until the fifth inning to explode offensively, as they scored six runs to break open a 3-1 game and run-ruled the Knights. UCLA scored seven of its nine runs off home runs. The Knights scored their only run on Sierra Humphreys’ solo home run in the fifth inning.
The Knights were held to three hits. UCF went with Ava Stuewe in the circle to start and she only allowed three earned runs on a hit. Isabella Vega and Macy Miles gave up the remaining runs. The Knights hope to stave off elimination on Saturday.
