(Tucson, AZ) Kim Doss
On Thursday, Mississippi State head coach Vann Stuedeman talked about the parity in college softball that has created a “golden era” for the sport. On Friday, that parity was on display as the #3 and #4 seeds gave their big conference opponents all they could handle and, in Mississippi State’s case, more than they could handle.
Game 1: Mississippi State Bulldogs vs North Dakota State Bison
The Bison were trying to “surprise a couple people” by winning some games or even a regional, according to pitcher Jacquelyn Sertic. After knocking off Mississippi State by a score of 5-4 in game one of the Tucson Regional, maybe it’s time for people to stop being surprised by the Bison.
This wasn’t the first year that North Dakota State has come out and made a statement in regional play. Just last season, they went to the home field of defending national champion Oklahoma, and won game one of that regional.
Oklahoma would eventually come back, moving on to the super regionals and a second consecutive national title, but the Bison proved that they belonged on the same field as the big names of the sport. In fact, they have won at least one game in regional play every year since 2014 and last advanced to a super regional in 2009.
NDSU got started quickly, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Vanessa Anderson hit an RBI triple to score Bre Beatty. The Bulldogs were unable to respond until the bottom of the third, when they finally plated two runs.
The Bison were not interested in giving up to the team from the SEC, though. Anderson picked up her team once again in the top of the fourth, launching a solo home run over the left field fence to tie the game at two apiece. That was followed by a two RBI single off the bat Julia Luciano to give NDSU at 4-2 lead.
The Bulldogs tried to respond, putting up single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings, but the Bison wouldn’t give in. After MSU freshman phenom Mia Davidson singled in a run in the bottom of the sixth to close it to a 4-3 game, Stephanie Soriano responded in the top of the seventh with an RBI of her own to push the lead back to 5-3 for NDSU..
The two-run cushion was needed. Mississippi State put up another run in the bottom of the seventh, but were unable to secure the walk-off win.
NDSU advanced to the winner’s bracket, where the will face the home team Wildcats Saturday at 2 pm MST.
Game Two: St. Francis Red Flash vs Arizona Wildcats
The second game was set up to be a battle of home runs considering that both the Wildcats and the Red Flash are in the top four NCAA teams in that category. In the dry desert air, that should have meant balls being launched out of Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium. Instead, UA’s Taylor McQuillin and SFU’s Abby Trahan found themselves in an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel.
McQuillin gave up only four hits on the night, while Trahan limited the Wildcats to two hits. The difference was that one of the Wildcats’ hits cleared the left field wall to give Jessie Harper her 18th home run of the season.
Asked what went wrong with the pitch that eventually decided the game, Trahan said, “[Harper] knows change-up’s coming.”
Both pitchers struggled a bit with the zone of home plate umpire. Trahan said it took a while for her to adjust to the tight zone, while Arizona head coach Mike Candrea said that he “couldn’t quite figure out what [each pitch] was gonna be” called.
With the win, Arizona advances to Saturday’s winner’s bracket to face North Dakota State for the opportunity to move on to the regional championship game. St. Francis will face Mississippi State in an elimination game following the UA-NDSU game.
