Huskies Capture Regional Title With 2-0 Win

Lincoln --- Washington survived a pitcher's dual to advance to Super Regional play next weekend with a 2-0 win over Iowa in the championship game of the NCAA Softball Regional at Lincoln Sunday in front of a crowd of 277. The Huskies, who improved to 34-20 on the season, will play the winner of the regional at Ann Arbor, while Iowa ends its season with a 50-14 record.

The 22nd-ranked Huskies rode the arm of Regional MVP Ashley Boek, who gave up just one slap hit in the third inning while helping Washington to within two games of their third straight Women's College World Series appearance. Boek finished the game with 10 strikeouts without a walk, allowing only a slap hit down the third base line to Iowa's Jenna Spratt.

Going nearly pitch for pitch, Iowa's Lisa Birocci finished going 6.1 innings giving up two runs on eight hits, but kept getting out of jams as she allowed a Washington runner to reach second in four of the first five frames without allowing a run in that stretch. Her luck ran out in the sixth when the Huskies pushed across two runs for the deciding margin.

Kathy Fiske led off the top of the sixth with a double that fell under the glove of the diving left fielder, Spratt, and rolled to the wall. Aimee Minor, who had a pair of home runs in Saturday's win, then struck out looking before Sarah Hyatt looped a ball up the middle for an RBI base hit. Hyatt also had the game-winning hit, a solo home run, against Nebraska on Saturday.

Dominique Lastrapes, who finished with a tournament-best .667 (8-of-12) batting average, then picked up her fourth hit of the game with an RBI single through the right side to score Hyatt before Caitlin Noble was gunned down at the plate to end the frame. But the damage was done as Boek retired the Hawkeyes in order in the sixth and seventh to record her third straight win of the tournament.

Boek allowed just one hit in the game and only 10 hits over 24.1 innings in the tournament to earn MVP honors. She struck out a career-high 18 on Friday against Creighton, going 11 shutout innings before allowing her first run of the game in the 12th. Boek finished with 32 strikeouts on the weekend against just six walks.

Lastrapes opened the game with a double down the left field line and advanced to third on a passed ball. The Huskies were unable to plate the run, however, as Birocci set down the next seven batters until Jacki Hansen was hit with one out in the third inning.

Lestrapes followed with a single through the hole at short to give the Huskies two baserunners, but Birocci recovered again to strike out Ashley Charters before Kristen Rivera fouled off several pitches in an 11-pitch at bat before walking to load the bases. Birocci then got Fiske to ground into fielder's choice to get out of the frame.