May 27, 2001
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Top-seeded Arizona had a solo home run in the first for its only run of the game and defeated the Stanford softball team 1-0 in the Women's College World Series on Sunday afternoon at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. The Cardinal is eliminated from the World Series after going 2-2 and ends the season with a school best 54-15-1 record. The Cardinal also finishes in a tie for third nationally. The Wildcats (63-4) advance to Monday's championship game against UCLA or LSU.
The Wildcats scored the game's only run in the bottom of the first as Toni Mascarenas homered on a 2-0 pitch. For Mascarenas, it was her third home run of the World Series and 25th of the year.
The Stanford pitching staff held the Wildcats to two hits in the game, but the Cardinal had just one. Stanford had one scoring opportunity when it had a runner in scoring position in the sixth. Ramona Shelburne reached on a fielding error and was sacrificed to second on Robin Walker's bunt. But Arizona pitcher Becky Lemke got Jessica Mendoza to strikeout to end the inning.
Stanford's only hit of the game was Sarah Beeson's two-out single to right in the fourth.
The Cardinal used three different pitchers in the game and gave up just two hits. Tori Nyberg started in the circle and went 2 2/3 innings. She gave up one run on two hits and struck out one. Jaime Forman-Lau came on in the bottom of the third and pitched the next 2 1/3 innings. She retired seven batters in a row before Dana Sorensen started the sixth and faced the minimum. Nyberg took the loss to fall to 6-3 on the year.
Lemke went the distance for the Wildcats and held the Cardinal to four base runners in the game. She struck out five and walked one to improve to 19-2.
Arizona 1, Stanford 0 Score by Innings1234567R H E Stanford 00000000 1 1 Arizona 100000x1 2 1 WP - Becky Lemke (19-2) to Lindsey Collins. LP - Tori Nyberg (6-3) to Jessica Allister. 2B - None. 3B - None. HR - Toni Mascarenas (UA). E - Sarah Beeson (STAN), Allison Andrade (UA). LOB - Stanford 2, Arizona 2. Records - Stanford 54-16-1, Arizona 64-4.