UCLA
Florida State
Bruin Softball Advances To NCAA Regional Championship
May 20, 2000 | Softball
May 20, 2000
LOS ANGELES - UCLA took a two-run lead in the bottom of the first inning and never relinquished it as the Bruins downed Florida State 6-1 to advance to the championship game of the Los Angeles Regional for the NCAA Softball Championship. UCLA is now 42-11-1 on the season. Florida State, with a 50-26 record, will play the winner of the Iowa-Canisius game for the right to face the Bruins in tomorrow's 12:30 p.m. championship game.
For the second time in three games, starting pitcher Amanda Freed started the Bruins off with a double in the first inning. A single by freshman shortstop Natasha Watley advanced Freed to third, before Watley stole her 32nd base of the season, setting a new UCLA single-season record. Freed would then score on a wild pitch, which also advanced Watley to third base before third baseman Julie Adams singled her home.
In the fourth inning, the Bruins added a run on a Tairia Mims home run to left field, her eighth of the year. The Bruins scored a second run in the frame, giving them a 4-0 lead through four complete.
Freed was pitching a one-hit shutout through four innings, but FSU first baseman Becky Wallace started the fifth with a double down the left field line. Felicia Williams came in to pinch-run for Wallace, who was then sacrificed to third base and singled home by relief pitcher Leslie Malerich, making the score 4-1 UCLA.
In the sixth, the Bruins added two more insurance runs, with a Watley single, and an RBI double by Adams. With Erin Rahn pinch-running for Adams on second base, senior catcher Julie Marshall came to the plate.
Marshall, who set a new UCLA record for career games played on Saturday, appearing in her 241st game in a Bruin uniform, knocked Rahn home with an RBI single to right field. It was her 200th career RBI, making her the first Bruin and 12th player in NCAA history to reach that milestone.
The Bruins now advance to the championship game of the Los Angeles Regional, and will face the winner of today's 3 p.m. game between the Lady Seminoles and the winner of the Iowa/Canisius elimination game. The championship game is scheduled to begin at 12:30.
