Washington clobbers Florida 8-0, sits 1 win from NCAA softball title

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The umpires left the field, the teams lined up to shake hands and the grounds crew removed second base with Washington holding an 8-0 lead over Florida after six innings Monday.

They were premature: The eight-run rule is not in effect in the NCAA championship series.

"I was frustrated," Danielle Lawrie said.

"It was disappointing," Washington coach Heather Tarr said of the fact that the teams were not informed.

But they were right. The game was over, even if it took another inning to make that 8-0 score final.

Washington moved one win from its first NCAA championship behind Lawrie, who threw her school-record 41st career shutout and won her 41st game of the season while stopping the top-ranked Gators' 29-game winning streak.

Washington can capture its first NCAA softball title with a win in Game 2 of the best-of-three title series at 5 p.m. today. Game 3, if necessary, would be played Wednesday.

The Huskies (50-12) have handed Florida (63-4) half of its losses this season, and their eight runs Monday was the most scored against Florida all season.

"I'm just so proud of our team and how we responded yesterday and how we grew together," said Lawrie, who gave up a season-high seven earned runs in a loss to Georgia on Sunday before rebounding with a victory over the Bulldogs to advance.

"I'm not selfish, and I don't look at how my performances are. I look at how we are as a team."

Lawrie gave up two hits, both singles, and struck out 13. She has 513 career strikeouts, nine short of tying Arizona's Taryne Mowatt for the Pac-10 season strikeout record. And Lawrie is only a junior.

Washington leadoff hitter Ashley Charters had three hits, including a two-run homer for the final margin, and Jenn Salling had a two-run single and scored twice. Charters has nine hits here.

Salling's hit in the third inning turned the game. After Niki Williams walked and Charters and Kimi Pohlman reached on infield singles, Salling lined a hard single to center field.

Charters slid around a tag at the plate to score from second before catcher Kristina Hilbert, attempting to retire Pohlman at second, threw the ball high and it rolled to the fence in center. Pohlman and Salling scored easily for a 4-0 lead.

"I just wanted to put the ball in play. We'll take it," said Salling, the Huskies' No. 3 hitter who is batting .421 with 16 hits, 10 runs and eight RBI in 11 postseason games.

"If you are not used to doing that, and that happens to you, in that kind of game, it's tough to bounce back," Tarr said of the play. "They obviously haven't had that many losses to deal with."

UW's Morgan Stuart had a two-run double off the center-field fence in the fourth inning for a 6-0 lead. It was her World Series-record fourth double among her nine hits here. She has 17 total bases, second in Series history to Arizona's Leah O'Brien (19, 1994).

The Huskies have given Stacey Nelson, the best pitcher in Florida history, two of her four losses this season. Lawrie beat Nelson 1-0 in nine innings in the Cathedral City Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., on Feb. 20.

Nelson, a finalist for the national player of the year award won by Lawrie, entered the game with a 41-3 record and an 0.48 ERA.

She shut out Arizona and Michigan in the first two games of the Series, but she has given up four earned runs in each of her last two starts here.

"There's something that's not clicking," said Nelson, who had given up one earned run in 39 innings entering the Series. "I'm not hitting the spots I want to. I guess I'll go home tonight and figure out what that is."