OKLAHOMA CITY » Washington coach Heather Tarr watched Bryana Walker hit two of the first three batters she faced and sail another pitch to the backstop in the first inning against Nebraska.
She took time for a mid-inning speech Thursday, telling the Huskies they were down but not out in their Women’s College World Series opener. She was right: ‘Iolani graduate Kimberlee Souza slammed a walk-off home run in the eighth inning to complete a 4-3 comeback victory.
"The good thing is we bounced back," Tarr said.
Down 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Washington (44-15) tied the score when Victoria Hayward lined a ball that slid under the glove of Nebraska’s Brooke Thomason into right field for a triple. Hooch Fagaly’s squeeze bunt scored Hayward to send the game to the eighth and set up Souza’s heroics.
The home run was the eighth of the season for Souza, a sophomore from Waialua, and moved Washington to a winner’s bracket game today against Tennessee.
"Well, first of all, being at the World Series is a dream I’ve always had," Souza said in the postgame press conference, "and before the at-bat I had a little talk; Coach Tarr talked to me and calmed me down, told me get a good pitch and get up there and hit it, and that’s what I did."
Souza and the Huskies next take on Tennessee
(50-10) today in the double-elimination tournament. The Vols beat Florida 9-2 on Thursday.
Nebraska (45-15) faces the Gators, with the winner taking on the loser of the Washington-Tennessee game in an elimination contest.
Texas (50-8) beat Arizona State (50-11), 6-3, on Thursday, and Oklahoma (53-4) topped Michigan (50-12), 7-1, behind Keilani Ricketts, who threw a no-hitter and struck out 12.
Ricketts (32-1), the Collegiate Softball Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, is the younger sister of former Hawaii pitcher Stephanie.
The Longhorns and Sooners square off today, as do the Sun Devils and Wolverines.
