SALT LAKE CITY - Utah Valley State College pulled off an improbable three game sweep Saturday, beating Salt Lake Community College 9-3 in the championship game to win the Region 18 Women's Softball title and earn a trip to next week's NJCAA nationals in Florida.
The Wolverines, who lost to Salt Lake Friday in extra innings to fall into the loser's bracket, had to win all three games Saturday to stave off elimination. They opened with a 3-0 win over North Idaho, with Brenda Hart tossing a one-hitter. Then they used the strong pitching of Lynette Hicks to post a 2-1 win over Salt Lake and force a final and deciding game.
In the title game, UVSC took an early 3-2 lead, getting an RBI single from April Mecham in the first, and RBI singles by Summer Griffin and Cheri Rasmussen in the third. Salt Lake tied it at 3-3 in the bottom of the third when Becky Culligan doubled in a run. In the second inning, Hart replaced Hicks, who got the starting nod from UVSC coach Todd Fairbourne. After the run in the third, Hart shut the Bruins out the rest of the way.
UVSC went up 4-3 in the sixth on singles by Hana Michiue, Tiffany Weight, and Griffin. Then, in the seventh, Salt Lake committed a pair of errors and the Wolverines exploded for five runs to put it out of reach. Griffin had another run-scoring single, and Sabrina Dinkel doubled home a pair of runs.
The national tournament is in Kissimmee, Florida, May 18-20. It will be the first time the Wolverines have been since the 1989 season, when they finished seventh in the nation, and just the second time ever.
Griffin was named the MVP of the tournament, and Fairbourne was named the Region 18 Coach of the Year. "
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: UVSC 9 Salt Lake 3
UVSC 102 001 5 - 9 14 0
SLCC 021 000 0 - 3 7 0
Hicks, Hart-2 and Griffin. Rowe, Cater-7, and Williams. WP-Hart (21-10). LP-Rowe.
2b: Dinkel-UV, Rasmussen-UV, Culligan-SL. HR: Williams-SL.