Arizona 2, Auburn 1

TUCSON - Arizona (44-12) hung on for a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Auburn Saturday afternoon and lifted the host Wildcats into the regional title round of the NCAA Softball Championships Regional here at Hillenbrand Stadium.

Taylor McQuillin (22-7) went the distance for UA, scattering six hits, walking two and striking out five. Auburn's Lexie Handley (6-4) took the loss despite holding UA to four hits. Both teams stranded six runners.

Auburn (38-20) will face the winner of a Harvard-Colorado State game in the late second elimination game Saturday night.

Auburn's Casey McCrackin connected off McQuillin for its first hit with an out in the first, and Arizona had a runner in scoring position after a walk to Malia Martinez and a wild pitch by Lexi Handley, but neither team took advantage.

Bree Fornis hit a two-out double in the second to put an Auburn runner in scoring position, but McQuillin got Brittany Maresette to ground to first unassisted.

Rylee Pierce drew a leadoff walk to open UA's second, and then Reyna Carranco, returning after missing games with a broken hand, hit an infield chop single. Hanah Bowen's sac bunt put them at second and third. But Handley got a popup and a grounder to second to stifle the rally.

Arizona dodged a bullet in the third. Auburn loaded the bases with one out on a walk to Morgan Podany and singles by McCrackin and Alyssa Rivera. McQuillin struck out Tannon Snow on three pitches and got a foul pop to catcher by Tigers cleanup hitter Kendall Veach.

Handley walked Malia Martinez in the fourth but otherwise kept the Cats' bats silent with only one hit to that point.

The Cats turned to their bench for the first runs in the game. Carranco followed a second leadoff walk to Pierce with a second hit, to left, to put two aboard in the fourth. Deja vu -- Bowen's sac bunt moved them both over. Hannah Martinez grounded to third, but pinch hitter Tamara Statman singled up the middle to score both and snap the scoreless tie.

Auburn's Rivera drew a leadoff walk to open the Tigers sixth, but McQuillin struck out Tannon Snow, got a force out and handled a sharp grounder back to the circle to strand a fifth Auburn baserunner in the game.

Fornis led off the Auburn seventh with a home run, her fourth of the year, to cut the lead in half. It was the first hit off McQuillin in 12 at bats spanning three-plus innings.

Colorado State 6, Harvard 0 (Harvard eliminated)
 
TUCSON - Pitchers Katie Duncan of Harvard and Bridgette Hutton of Colorado State took turns putting up zeros on the scoreboard until Isabella Navarro stroked a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth to give the Rams a lead, and then a pair of errors led to disaster for Harvard in CSU's 6-0 NCAA Softball Championships victory.

The victory propelled CSU into an NCAA doubleheader, as the Rams turned around to face Auburn a half hour later for the right to meet host Arizona in the NCAA regional final here at Hillenbrand Stadium on Sunday.

Harvard was eliminated at 25-18 after winning the Ivy League title and making its seventh NCAA appearance. Colorado State, Mountain West champion, improved to 39-11.
Harvard had two runners in scoring position in the third inning with two outs on a single by Teagan Shaw, a groundout, a walk and a passed ball, but a ground ball stopped the rally.

Colorado State collected its first hit off Harvard's Katie Duncan (17-7) with a leadoff single up the middle by Isabella Navarro in the bottom of the third, but had three consecutive infield ground balls to strand Navarro.

Ashley Ruiz led off the CSU fourth with a single up the middle. Pinch runner Brooke Polenz stole second and later moved to third, but also was stranded.

Trina Hoang knocked a leadoff double off the left field fence to open the Harvard fifth. Shaw struck out looking, pitcher Bridgette Hutton (16-6) made a nice play on an infield grounder and Rhianna Rich flied deep to center to strand Hoang at third.

The Rams had a rally with a pair of walks putting a runner on second with two outs in the home fifth, then Haley Donaldson drew another walk off Duncan to load the bases, but Ruiz hit a soft liner to second for the third out.

The Rams had back-to-back hits with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to put two runners in scoring position. Lauren Buchanan singled and pinch runner Jordan Acosta took third on a single by Corina Gamboa, who then stole second. Navarro then came through with her big hit through the right side.

An error by Meagan Lantz at second base put another runner on base and then Ashley Michelena drew a walk off Duncan to load the bases. First baseman Morgan Melito mishandled a grounder by Donaldson to plate another run, unearned, and keep the bases loaded Ruiz then tripled off the outstretched glove of centerfielder Kaitlyn Schiffhauer to make it 6-0.

Auburn 8, Colorado State 0 (5) (Colorado State eliminated)

TUCSON - Auburn's Chardonnay Harris tossed a three-hitter to shut out Colorado State in five innings and move into the NCAA Softball Championships regional final Sunday afternoon against host Arizona.

The Tigers (39-20) could force a seventh game in the double-elimination event by winning the Sunday opener at 4 p.m.  The Wildcats could clinch the regional title with one victory over Auburn.

Colorado State, Mountain West Conference champion, ended its season 39-12 in its fourth NCAA appearance.

Auburn took a 4-0 lead in the second.

Justus Perry hit an infield single, and eventually made it to third on a sac bunt by Bree Fornis and a groundout by Brittany Maresette. Makenna Dowell walked and then Morgan Podany singled through the right side to drive in the first run.

Casey McCrackin then singled through the left side to score Dowell on a close play at the plate from second, and took second on the throw. Alyssa rivera walked to load the bases. Tannon Snow's sharp grounder was mishandled by CSU shortstop Haley Donaldson to let in two unearned runs.

Auburn's Harris (11-6) had only allowed one hit, a single by Tara Shadowen in the second, before Ashley Ruiz collected another in the bottom of the fourth.
The Tigers added another run with a leadoff home run by Rivera in the fifth, her 10th of the year. Snow and Kendall Veach then hit singles and chased CSU starter Jessica Jarecki (15-4).

Reliever Bridgette Hutton was greeted by a single from Perry to load the bases, but got a fielder's choice force at home off the next hitter for the first out. Pinch hitter Carmyn Greenwood drew an RBI walk to make it 6-0. Pinch hitter Aspyn Godwin then singled through the right side to drive in two more runs.

Lauren Buchanan led off the CSU fifth with a single to right and moved to third on a throwing error by third baseman Snow off a ground ball by Gamboa. Gamboa stole second. Isabella Navarro popped to second for the first out. Danni Klein grounded out to second for out No. 2 and leadoff hitter Casey McCrackin grounded to first to preserve the run-rule victory.