Georgia roughs up Lawrie to beat Washington

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - It's the year of the underdog at the Women's College World Series.

Megan Wiggins hit a tiebreaking three-run home run off national player of the year Danielle Lawrie in the sixth inning and Georgia capped a day of upsets at college softball's championship event by rallying to beat defending champion Washington 6-3 on Thursday night.

The victory by the sixth-seeded Bulldogs (49-11) followed upsets by 16th-seeded Hawaii against Missouri, fifth-seeded UCLA against Florida, and 15th-seeded Tennessee against Arizona to create an unexpected winners' bracket at the double-elimination event.

"The game doesn't know who's ranked. That's the cool part," Washington coach Heather Tarr said. "That's why we play."

Lawrie (40-4), who came in with a 1.00 ERA, took a three-run lead in the first inning but struggled against the Bulldogs for the second straight year at the World Series. The only loss for Lawrie and the Huskies at last year's event was a 9-8 extra-inning decision against Georgia.

Washington (50-8) also lost its super regional opener last weekend before Lawrie pitched back-to-back shutouts to put the Huskies back in the World Series. Lawrie called that loss an eye-opener that she didn't want to end her career in such negative fashion, but she took this one differently.

"I don't look at it as a wake-up call by any means," said Lawrie, who came in with a 1.00 ERA. "I think as an offense and me with some pitches in different situations, I think you look at that and just see what you want to try to bring different."

Wiggins had an RBI single as Georgia strung together a series of hits and scored twice in the fifth to tie it. She then hammered a 2-1 pitch from Lawrie over the center-field fence to put the Bulldogs ahead.

"We have a lot of heart, we have a lot of fight," Wiggins said. "When you add that plus 27 people in one dugout, I think you have great success whatever you do, and I think we showed that tonight."

Lawrie said she thought a number of Georgia's hits found their way just out of the reach of Washington defenders.

"When you're facing a good offensive team and they're getting breaks like that constantly, it can be hard on you," Lawrie said. "I think a lot of stuff fell for them today. Hats off, they're a good hitting team.

"When that happens and you have home run power, you're in a good spot."

The Huskies drop into the losers' bracket and face eight-time champion Arizona on Saturday in an elimination game. Only two teams - Texas A&M in 1983 and UCLA in 2003 - have gone on to win the title after losing their opening game.

Georgia will face Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee on Friday night, following another winners' bracket game between UCLA and surprising Hawaii.

The Rainbow Wahine knocked out No. 1 seed Alabama in the super regionals, while second-seeded Michigan was upset by Tennessee in an NCAA tournament where upsets are starting to pile up.

Florida, the runner-up last year, will face Missouri in another elimination game Saturday.

Hawaii 3, Missouri 2

Traci Yoshikawa hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning and Alexandra Aguirre also homered as the Rainbow Wahine found a way to win in their final at-bat for a third straight game.

With the nation's top home run hitter waiting on deck, Yoshikawa drove the first pitch from Kristin Nottelmann (24-8) over the right field wall.

"I had good contact. It was a good feeling off my hands. I was just hoping it was going over," said Yoshikawa, the No. 9 hitter for Hawaii. "It went over, and it was the greatest feeling ever."

Hawaii (50-14) has been on the road for 24 straight days after powering its way to its first World Series appearance. The Rainbow Wahine have an NCAA record 156 home runs this season, including Yoshikawa's game-winner and Aguirre's solo shot in the second inning that provided a 1-0 lead.

Rhea Taylor homered and scored twice for ninth-seeded Missouri (51-12), which made back-to-back World Series appearances for the first time in school history.

Taylor alertly raced home to tie it as Hawaii was slow getting the ball back in after Nicole Hudson's double to right field in the third. Her solo home run to left off starter Stephanie Ricketts (30-8) made it 2-1 in the fifth.

"There was no doubt that we were going to come back because we come back all the time," Ricketts said. "As you can see, one through nine, there's always a chance of the ball flying out."

UCLA 16, Arizona 3, 6 innings

Andrea Harrison homered twice and drove in six runs, Megan Langenfeld went 4 for 4 with a homer and four RBIs, and UCLA broke the World Series record for runs in a game.

Harrison hit three-run homers in the first and sixth innings as the Bruins (46-11) surpassed Alabama's World Series record of 14 runs scored in a shutout against Arizona last year.

The teams' combined run totals were also a World Series record. The game was shortened to six innings because of the mercy rule.

Langenfeld (12-1) provided the final blow with a two-run homer to left field to cap UCLA's nine-run sixth inning. She also threw five scoreless innings of relief after Tiffany DeFelice of Florida (48-9) tied the game with a three-run double in the second inning.

Stephanie Brombacher (34-7) gave up five earned runs in 2 1-3 innings, getting pulled after she threw a series of illegal pitches.

Tennessee 9, Arizona 0, 5 innings

Ivy Renfroe struck out six in a spotless World Series debut, Erinn Webb and Jessica Spigner had two-run doubles and Tennessee took advantage of a wild outing by Arizona starter Kenzie Fowler.

Fowler (34-7) walked eight in three-plus innings marred by eight illegal pitches, including a pair of balks that brought in runs for the 15th-seeded Lady Vols (48-13).

Webb's double to right-center was the only hit in a four-run third inning for Tennessee, which tacked on three more runs in the fourth. Spigner's two-run double made it 9-0 and put the Lady Vols in position to stop the game after five innings because of the mercy rule.

It was the second straight mercy rule defeat at the World Series for eight-time national champion Arizona (48-12), which was eliminated in a 14-0 loss to Alabama last year.

Renfroe (30-4) allowed only three singles to an Arizona offense averaging 7.5 runs.