# #

Women's College World Series: Arizona State, Oregon eliminated

by Sarah Kezele
Jun 2, 2018

Arizona State and Oregon both exited the 2018 Women's College World Series on Saturday as the field was whittled down from eight to four teams. UCLA and Washington continue the fight for a national championship on Sunday.

[Related: 2018 NCAA Women's College World Series bracket (NCAA.com)]

Arizona State

No. 4 seed Oklahoma 2, No. 8 seed Arizona State 0

Arizona State’s WCWS run came to an end Saturday in Oklahoma City with a loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, the hometown team and two-time defending champions.

Oklahoma moves on to a Saturday night matchup with the (2) Florida Gators for a chance to play Washington in the semifinals.

The Sun Devils only got two hits and two walks off of Sooner pitcher Paige Parker, who struck out seven in her complete-game effort.

ASU stranded five runners in the contest, three of which were in scoring position.

G Juarez went four innings in the circle for the Sun Devils, giving up four hits, a pair of walks and a run. Breanna Macha came in for Juarez to start the fifth inning and recharge the maroon and gold, but to no avail. Oklahoma’s Lea Wodach knocked an RBI single to score Caleigh Clifton and lock in the Sooners’ 2-0 victory.

This is just the third time ASU has been shut out this season, once against Washington in March and the other against Oregon in April.

Oregon

No. 6 Florida State 4, No. 1 seed Oregon 1

The Oregon Ducks came to Oklahoma City expecting to make a deep run as the No. 1 seed in the 2018 Women’s College World Series.

Instead, they’re missing the semifinals and heading back to Eugene following a 2-0 elimination by sixth-seeded Florida State.

After putting up a monstrous 11 runs in their WCWS opener on Thursday, the Ducks committed four errors and could only manage five hits and one run to avoid the shutout Saturday.

FSU pitcher Kylee Hanson finished with four strikeouts over 6.1 innings. The Seminoles weren’t exactly explosive, either, but scored in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Sydney Sherrill, an Oklahoma native, put the finishing touches on Florida State’s win with a two-out solo shot in the final frame.

Haley Cruse got the Ducks on the board with a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, ripping the ball just past FSU’s centerfielder to get Shannon Rhodes home from first.

Oregon threatened to tie it up in the bottom of the seventh with two runners on, but FSU ace Meghan King entered the circle to shut that down and end the game. Three pitchers shared the load in the circle for Oregon. Miranda Elish got the start but gave up two runs and six hits over 4.0 innings.

Megan Kleist and Maggie Balint relinquished one run apiece in relief. Florida State squares off with three-seed UCLA for a spot in the championship series Sunday at 12:30 p.m. PT. The Bruins beat the ‘Noles 7-4 on Thursday in their WCWS opener.

Related News & Videos