World Series Fastpitch | UW takes control

OKLAHOMA CITY — If there was any figurative strand still binding the Washington Huskies to their old softball regime, they may have snipped it Thursday.

Calling her own pitches, sophomore right-hander Danielle Lawrie summarily shut down DePaul with a no-hitter, giving the Huskies an opening-game, 3-1 victory in the Women's College World Series.

They next meet Northwestern, the No. 2-seeded team in the tournament, at 4 p.m. today. The Wildcats blanked Pac-10 runner-up Arizona State, 2-0.

Like most softball coaches, Teresa Wilson ruled games with an iron fist as Washington coach, calling pitches from the dugout, until her ouster after the 2003 season. That was among the things that changed when Heather Tarr took over the program in 2004.

"I like it," said Lawrie, the Langley, B.C., product who threw the first no-hitter at the WCWS since 2003. "I have the ability to shake pitches off and I'm in control of the game."

There was no doubting who was in control. Lawrie, mixing a riser, curve and changeup, set down the side in order in all but the third inning, when her own dual lapses may have cost her a perfect game and the shutout.

DePaul center fielder Linda Secka had a three-ball count leading off when Lawrie violated the 10-second rule, taking too long to deliver and getting assessed a ball four.

After a failed sacrifice bunt by Stephanie Blagaich and a stolen base, Lawrie fielded Shea Warren's bunt and threw high to first. When the ball got away, Blagaich scored and the Huskies trailed 1-0.

They didn't trail for long against DePaul's Tracie Adix, who prepped at Edmonds-Woodway High. Ashley Charters led off with a double to left-center, and two outs later, Dena Tyson launched Adix's first pitch for a towering homer to left, her first in 32 days.

"April 29," said the effusive Tyson, who leads Washington in home runs. "It was a see-ball, hit-ball type of thing. My dad always told me, it only takes one swing."

That was plenty for Lawrie, but light-hitting Ashlyn Watson struck a second homer off Adix in the fourth.

Clearly, it was not the best day for Adix, who, before Tyson homered, hadn't allowed a run in 49-2/3 innings, dating back through the Big East tournament.

"Tracie just wasn't the Tracie we've seen all year long," said DePaul coach Eugene Lenti.

Said Adix: "I didn't feel like anything was really off. They're just big swingers and big hitters, and they got hold of them."

Lawrie's effort was the 16th no-hitter in WCWS history and the first by the Huskies at this event in their eight appearances.

"She had us totally off-balance the whole day," said Lenti.

"She really brought it," said Alicia Matthews, Lawrie's catcher.

The postgame celebration was mostly understated, but Lawrie said the gem was "something I'm always going to remember. It was awesome."

As Tarr tells it, it's not as though her pitchers are freelancing out there. There's considerable dugout discussion between innings about the pitching approach, and also verbal cues from the bench.

"It's a collaborative process, by all means," Tarr said. "It's not that we're not controlling it. But they get four years to play, and Danielle is going to be so much more prepared internationally. It's 'I made a decision [as a pitcher], I'm going to own the decision, and here it goes.' "

It was the Huskies' first WCWS victory since Wilson's last one as Huskies coach, dating to the opener in 2003.

If they had any nerves, Tarr, in familiar fashion, let them work it out themselves.

"This team has good internal leadership," Tarr said. "I try not to get myself too much into their business. That's them, controlling themselves."

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com