Arkansas blanks Shockers
FAYETTEVILLE - Mary Haff keeps firing blanks, shooting her Arkansas Razorbacks into today’s championship game of the NCAA’s 4-team, double-elimination Women’s Softball Regional at Bogle Park.
Arkansas improved to
41-15.
After throwing a complete game 2-hit shutout for a 2-0 first-round victory over DePaul Friday, freshman right-hander Haff before 2,011 on Saturday threw a complete game 1-hit shutout, 5-0 victory over the Wichita State Shockers.
Arkansas broke up a scoreless game on A.J. Belans’ solo home run leading off the fifth and then added an unearned run on Wichita State second baseman Kaylee Huecker’s error preceding Hannah McEwen’s infield hit.
Arkansas added three in the seventh, sparked by a 2-run single by senior third baseman Autumn Buczek and another scored during Katie Warrick’s infield out.
So Arkansas Coach Courtney Deifel and her staff spent Saturday’s late afternoon monitoring Oklahoma State’s 6-0 loser’s bracket victory over DePaul then the Oklahoma State vs. Wichita State loser’s bracket final played Saturday night.
Saturday night’s OSU vs. WSU survivor plays Arkansas at 1:30 p.m. today and again at 4 p.m. if necessary with the champion advancing to face the winner of the Norman Regional hosted by reigning national champion Oklahoma.
“Mary did an incredible job in the circle of giving us time to get comfortable,” Deifel said. “It was a great team win. It’s nice to be able to rest a little bit today and we will be ready to roll tomorrow.
Haff, 28-6, upping her school record for victories in a season that she set Friday, said after Saturday’s success: “Honestly I thought my ball was moving more yesterday. I had more strikeouts yesterday (eight Friday vs. no walks compared to five strikeouts vs. three walks Saturday) and felt I had more command than today. But I did what worked for us to win and we won. So I was happy with it.”
Haff had to rely more on her defense Saturday, including some spectacular catches by left fielder Tori Cooper, against a Wichita State that had beaten Arkansas, 1-0, in 30-degree weather back on March 6 in Wichita,
Kansas.
WSU left-hander Bailey Lange, who pitched a complete-game 4-hitter to beat Oklahoma State Friday, recorded that 1-0 victory over Arkansas in Wichita and retired 12 of the first 13 Razorbacks (Autumn Buczek managed a 1-out fourth-inning infield single) she faced through four innings Saturday.
Belans changed all that leading off the fifth.
“I was just looking for a pitch to drive and I got one that was a little bit high in the zone and pretty much did my job,” Belans said.
She blasted a 2-1 Lange high pitch to new heights for a towering home run over left that shocked the Shockers and ignited the home crowd.
“Once they hit that home run you could kind of feel their energy swarm us,” Asea Webber, who had the Shockers’ lone hit, said. “It was hard to get that back, that energy back on our side.”
Wichita State Coach Kristi Bredbenner concurred.
“With it being the leadoff batter I think it sets the tone for that inning,” Bredbenner said. “Obviously, the next kid (Loren Krzysko) gets up and rips a triple on the next pitch and they’re in business. We made a mistake and they
ended up capitalizing on it a little bit.”
Krzysko got put out at the plate running from contact on Tori Cooper (the left fielder atoning for her error with two great catches) rapping a grounder to short before a walk, and Huecker’s error preceded McEwen’s infield out.
It was just a 2-0 lead but looming large with Haff in a groove and the crowd inspired.
“When you start to feel a pitcher like Mary settle in, you know that one run could be a difference maker on the day,” Deifel said. “So when A.J. hit that out, I think it gave our team a ton of confidence.
“The whole team exhaled,” Haff said after Belans’ blast.
And the crowd … “Our fans go ballistic any time we do something right,” Belans said after Bredbenner and Lange cited the fans’ impact. “And they are with us any time something went wrong. Having them behind us gives us all the confidence and momentum in the world.”
Arkansas chased Lange, and reliever Bailey Klitzke in the 3-run seventh leaving the Shockers for their seventh already thinking ahead to their Saturday night survival game. Haff retired them 1-2-3.
“Those three runs are huge,” Deifel said. “Wichita State has a great offense, but the way Mary was pitching down the stretch, you have confidence that's going to be enough.”