No. 7 Kentucky 1, Louisiana Tech 0
No. 7 Kentucky 6, No. 15 Texas 4
AUSTIN, Texas -- Kentucky junior catcher Griffin Joiner blasted a two-run home run in the fifth inning, extending her hitting streak to a career-high seven games, while sophomore pitcher Kelsey Nunley threw seven strong innings to pick up her third win of the season as No. 7 Kentucky took down No. 15 Texas 6-4.
The game was played as part of the 2014 Texas Classic. UK won both of its games Friday in the tournament with a 1-0 victory against Louisiana Tech earlier Friday morning.
Joiner delivered the knockout punch for Kentucky with her two-run home run in the fifth inning to give the Wildcats a 4-0 lead. The junior’s bomb extended her hitting streak to a career high seven games after going 1-for-3 with two RBI. Sophomore shortstop Christian Stokes and senior outfielder Ginny Carroll each had multi-hit games and scored a run, while sophomore Ansley Smith had a hit and two RBI. Stokes, Carroll and Smith have reached base safely in all seven games this season.
No. 1 Tennessee 5, Pittsburgh 0
No. 1 Tennessee 10, Binghamton 0
TAMPA, Fla. -- Megan Geer's three hit, three RBI effort and Ellen Renfroe's terrific two-hitter lifted No.1 Tennessee past Pittsburgh 5-0 in their first of five games in the USF tournament on Friday night.
Tennessee (5-0) scored one in the first, two in the fourth, and added two more in the sixth, topping Pittsburgh (3-4). The Lady Vols are now 2-0 all-time against the Panthers.
Freshman Megan Geer led the Lady Vols offense going 3-for-4 at the plate, knocking in three runs for the Orange and White and scoring one. Melissa Davin added a solo home run and Madison Shipman tacked on the final run in the bottom of the sixth.
Erin Gabriel threw the best game of her young UT career, fanning 11 over five shutout innings, Melissa Davin had an inside-the-park home run and Taylor Koenig drove in three runs as No. 1 Tennessee cruised past Binghamton 10-0 in five innings late Friday night in the USF Tournament.
With a 6-0 lead through three innings, Tennessee (6-0) scored four in the fourth to put the game out of reach while Gabriel limited Binghamton (1-1) to just two hits and one walk over five shutout innings while commanding the strike zone to post a career-best 11 strikeouts.
No. 2 Florida 8, Seattle 1
No. 2 Florida 11, Hawaii 1
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Gators swept a pair of games against Seattle and Hawaii on the first day of the Easton Desert Classic at Eller Media Stadium. Florida took the first game against SU 8-1 and won the second game against the Rainbow Wahine by mercy rule, 11-1 (five innings). Senior pitcher Hannah Rogers earned her 100th career victory in the win against Hawaii.
Junior outfielder Bailey Castro opened the scoring for UF in the first with an RBI single that scored Kirsti Merritt. The next inning, Stephanie Tofft led off with a double before sophomore catcher Aubree Munro hit her first career home run. Kelsey Stewart uncorked an inside-the-park home run later in the frame, bringing home Justine McLean and Taylore Fuller. Merritt doubled after Stewart’s home run, and later scored on a Taylor Schwarz single.
In the second contest, Rogers earned the milestone victory by limiting the Hawaii offense to just one run on one hit in four innings, while walking one batter and striking out three. Freshman lefty Delanie Gourley pitched the fifth to close out UF’s 11-1 win, which was keyed by four Gator home runs.
No. 3 Washington 9, Illinois State 1
No. 3 Washington 18, San Jose State 1
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Coming into the game, the No. 3 Huskies bout with San Jose State on Friday afternoon at the Littlewood Classic figured to be a good matchup, pairing two teams who were 6-0. But the Huskies put up 16 runs in the first three innings at the Tempe Sports Complex, and there was quickly no doubt about who the stronger team is.
The Huskies (7-0) defeated the Spartans (6-1) by a final score of 18-1, marking the most runs the Huskies have scored since they knocked off UC Riverside 22-3 on Feb. 13, 2011. Bryana Walker tossed 5.0 innings of one-run ball, allowing just two hits while striking out four to move to 3-0.
The Huskies defeated Illinois State (1-4) earlier in the day 9-1.
No. 4 Alabama 13, Grand Canyon 5
No. 4 Alabama 12, Tennessee State 0
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Four home runs helped lift Alabama to a 13-5 win in its opening game at the Hillenbrand Invitational against Grand Canyon.
Alabama (6-0) got out to an early lead before Grand Canyon (3-5) came back to tie it in the third inning, but a potent Tide lineup provided plenty of run support to eventually put away the Antelopes. The Crimson Tide plated 13 runs, helped in part by four home runs that accounted for all but one of those runs. Leslie Jury (3-0) pitched through some early trouble to earn her third complete-game victory of the season.
The Alabama offense came through with another big win in Friday's second game at the Hillenbrand Invitational, shutting out Tennessee State 12-0 in five innings.
The Tide offense scored 12 runs off of 12 hits, led by freshman Chandler Dare going 3-4 with two RBI. Littlejohn (2-0) earned her second win of the season, her first career shutout, while the Tigers' Olivia Gamache (0-3) took the loss in the circle.
No. 5 Arizona State 7, No. 11 Oklahoma 0
No. 5 Arizona State 9, SIU-Edwardsville 0
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Facing its first ranked opponent of the season, No. 5 Arizona State dominated the 11th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners on Friday before taking care of business against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in the nightcap to improve to 9-0 following a day of action at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe.
Dallas Escobedo (4-0) pitched a one-hit clinic against the Sooners that came one out shy of a no-hitter in a 7-0 shutout while Mackenize Popescue did her thing against the Cougars of SIUE in a 5-2 victory.
No. 6 Michigan 5, Memphis 0
Louisiana-Lafayette 8, No. 6 Michigan 6
LAFAYETTE, La. -- Sixth-ranked Michigan split a pair of games on Valentine's Day at the Ragin' Cajun Invitational played at Lamson Park. The Wolverines defeated Memphis by a 5-0 score in the opening game before falling 8-6 to host and No. 20-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette in the night cap.
Sophomore left-fielder Sierra Lawrence powered the Wolverines past Memphis with a first-inning grand slam. U-M added another run in the sixth as senior centerfielder Lyndsay Doyle singled and came around to score on a pair of Memphis errors. Doyle went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and Lawrence was 2-for-3 with the four RBI during the Wolverines' 5-0 victory.
No. 8 Texas A&M 8, Oregon State 0
McNeese State 4, No. 8 Texas A&M 2
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M (7-1) run-ruled Oregon State (3-5) 8-0 in six innings in the first game of the day before ending its winning streak with a 2-4 loss to McNeese State (4-3), Friday in the Aggie Classic.
In game one vs. the Beavers, Texas A&M took the lead in the third inning and never gave up a run in the shutout. Sophomore transfer Katie Marks (3-0) threw a complete game shutout in the circle, the second of her young Aggie career. Sophomore Cali Lanphear was 2-for-3 on the game with a double, a triple and four RBI.
The tables were turned in game two as the Aggies stranded 11 runners against McNeese State, six of them in scoring position.
No. 9 Nebraska, Houston
No. 9 Nebraska 7, Army 0
HOUSTON, Texas -- Emily Lockman took a no-hitter into the final inning, while Taylor Edwards and Alicia Armstrong both homered in a six-run first inning, as Nebraska defeated Army 7-0 on Friday night.
Lockman did not allow a hit until a one-out double in the top of the seventh inning. She then retired the next two batters to preserve her second shutout in three starts this season. In firing a one-hitter, Lockman (1-0) struck out four and worked around a pair of walks.
A four-run third inning was enough to hold up for Nebraska softball, as the Huskers defeated Houston 4-1 at Cougar Stadium.
Although NU's offense scored in only one inning, it gave senior right-hander Tatum Edwards all the support she would need with the big third inning.
No. 10 Oregon 11, Toledo 2
No. 10 Oregon 3, UNLV 1
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Cheridan Hawkins rang up a school-record 18 batters to lift Oregon past UNLV 3-1 at Eller Media Stadium Friday evening. She went the distance for the Ducks, pitching 10 strong innings, giving up just one earned run on three hits while breaking the school record of 17 strikeouts that she set last year in a 4-0 shutout of Seattle.
After Nikki Udria advanced Alyssa Gillespie and Jasmine Smithson-Willett to second and third on a sac bunt. Janie Takeda then plated Gillespie on a fielder’s choice to second to give Oregon the 2-1 lead. Smithson-Willett scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to center from Courtney Ceo to give the Ducks a 3-1 lead.
Hawkins slammed the door on UNLV (1-5) in the bottom of the 10th, forcing a fly-out followed by back-to-back strikeouts record the complete-game win.
Oregon needed just five innings in its dominant win against Toledo behind Janelle Lindvall and Alexa Peterson who combined to go 4-for-4 with five RBI and three runs. Karissa Hovinga pitched three scoreless innings while striking out three and walked one to notch her second win of the year as the Ducks run ruled Toledo 11-2 on Friday morning.
