Washington on verge of Women’s CWS title after 8-0 defeat of Florida

Washington 1 win from NCAA softball title

OKLAHOMA CITY — Jenn Salling hit a two-run single that turned into a whole lot more as Washington routed top-seeded Florida 8-0 Monday night in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series finals.

Salling’s single in the third inning brought in four runs when catcher Kristina Hilbreth tried to catch a runner at second. Her throw sailed into center field.

Morgan Stuart added a two-run double in the fifth inning as the Huskies (50-12) had a surprising offensive outburst against Stacey Nelson, the nation’s stingiest pitcher with an 0.48 ERA. Nelson (41-4) had consecutive shutouts to open the World Series.

Danielle Lawrie (41-8) threw a two-hitter to set a new Washington record with her 41st career shutout. Jennifer Spediacci, who pitched the Huskies to their last championship appearance in 1999, held the old record with 40.

Florida’s 29-game winning streak was snapped.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Tuesday night.

Washington loaded the bases with a walk and two infield grounders before Salling lined a single through the infield that Kim Waleszonia fielded in shallow center. She fired home too late to get Ashley Charters, and Hilberth then zipped a throw back toward second that sailed over even Waleszonia as she made a leaping attempt to catch it.

Two more runs scored as the ball rolled into deep center field, giving Washington a 4-0 edge.

A member of the Canadian Olympic team, Salling joined the Huskies late in the season before playing a key role in their postseason push. After transferring from Oregon, she wasn’t allowed to play until April because of NCAA rules and started her abbreviated season 0-for-13. Over her first month with Washington, she was hitting .100.

Salling turned it around in the last two weeks of the regular season and then into the postseason and is hitting at a .413 clip (19-for-46) since May 7.

Now, she and Lawrie — the national player of the year and her teammate from the Olympic team — have the Huskies within one win of their first NCAA softball title.

There was an awkward moment after Kelsey Bruder struck out to end the sixth inning as both teams lined up for postgame handshakes, thinking the game was over because of the mercy rule. However, the rule is not in effect during the championship series and the teams were told to resume play.

The grounds crew had already begun removing the bases from the field and the umpires had already left, too.

Nelson and Lawrie were so evenly matched during their only regular-season meeting it took a tiebreaker in the ninth-inning for Washington to win 1-0. The two combined to give up only seven singles, and the Huskies scored only after a runner was placed on second to start the ninth inning under tiebreaker rules.

With Washington quarterback Jake Locker and former QB Isaiah Stanback looking on, the Huskies had much more success piecing together offense this time.

Nelson ended up yielding six runs, four earned, on five hits in five innings for Florida (63-4). She hadn’t given up more than five runs in a game all season.

Charters added a two-run home run off reliever Stephanie Brombacher in the sixth inning, setting a school record with her 95th hit of the season in the process. Angie Marzetta set the old mark with 94 in 1993.