Huskies welcomed home after winning NCAA softball title

The Washington softball team knows how to make a splash.

Seeing the UW campus for the first time in three weeks since the start of postseason play, the Huskies returned home Wednesday as national champions after defeating top-seeded Florida 3-2 Tuesday night in Oklahoma City for a sweep of their best-of-three championship series.

Stepping off their police-escorted bus just past noon, players and coaches celebrated with hugs and high-fives as they passed through a two-sided reception line along a walkway behind the third-base line at Husky Softball Stadium.

They laughed, posed for pictures, signed autographs and, to punctuate the occasion, took a celebratory team plunge into Lake Washington from a dock behind Conibear Shellhouse.

It was probably the only moment in three weeks that All-American pitcher Danielle Lawrie, UW's resilient team anchor, showed a hint of apprehension.

"I hate seaweed and lily pads," Lawrie said.

The British Columbia native, the first player coach Heather Tarr recruited after Tarr was hired to run the program in July 2004, was gratified by the hundreds who greeted the team, among them UW athletic director Scott Woodward and numerous UW coaches

"I wasn't expecting this many people," Lawrie said. "You see how everyone cares about you so much. It's really special. I'm so happy we won it for our school and Seattle. It's a big deal."

No one was a bigger deal than Lawrie in the postseason. She pitched every inning of every game, famously throwing 24 combined innings (395 pitches) in a day in the regional round and 16 total innings in two games Sunday to advance to the playoff against Florida.

Lawrie struck out 49 hitters in 44-2/3 innings while going 5-1 in the World Series, fanning Florida's Ali Gardiner for the final out in Tuesday night's trophy-clinching win with runners on first and second.

The national college player of the year and MVP of the World Series was happy to be celebrating, not preparing for a decisive Game 3.

"I was not planning on going to that third game," she said. "That was just not an option. After we won that first game [Monday's 8-0 win over Florida] I called everyone in and said that first game means nothing. Tomorrow we have to pretend that we haven't even played them yet."

Yet Lawrie said she would have been ready to go, even after logging 521 strikeouts in 352-2/3 innings in 50 starts, all UW season records.

Notes

• Lawrie will throw out the first pitch Friday night at Safeco Field before the Mariners face Minnesota. She received the same honor two years ago after UW tied for third place in the 2007 Series.

• Tarr said lights will be installed at Husky Softball Stadium before next season. A UW spokesman confirmed early this week private funding (roughly $400,000) had been secured.