Washington vs. Arizona (Game 2)

Arizona comes out blazing in the top of the first, with Jenae Leles doubling in Caitlin Lowe and Chelsie Mesa. U-Dub comes up trailing 2-0...

U of A adds a run in the top of the third, making it 3-0...

With two out in the bottom of the fourth, and no hits to its credit, Washington comes to life with singles by Dominique Lastrapes, Dena Tyson, and Lauren Greer. It's now 3-1...

Arizona gets the run back; 4-1 going into the bottom of the fifth...

It's getting out of hand: 8-1 'Zona, still batting in the top of the sixth...

It's official: Arizona vs. Tennessee, two-out-of-three for the NCAA championship, starting Monday night.

Northwestern vs. Tennessee (Game 1)

Tennessee's bionic India Chiles, playing with a recent ACL tear as well as a shoulder injury, has gotten yet another hit, in the bottom of the first, and has stolen second!

The Vols, with the bases loaded and no outs, avert a disastrous double play and score the game's first run on an unusual play. On a grounder to Northwestern shortstop Tammy Williams, she tags the Tennessee runner going between second and third, and then throws home, seemingly in time to get the runner there. A subtle aspect of the play -- one that I didn't notice at first -- is that the tag-out of the runner going to third removes the force at home.

Wildcat catcher Erin Dyer, with her foot on the plate, catches Williams's throw well ahead of Chiles's arrival and, not thinking she needed to make a tag herself, doesn't. Chiles, meanwhile, continues her slide to the plate and ultimately is ruled to have scored. As the ESPN announcers suggested, Dyer may well have had time to make the tag, had she tried to, but she didn't. A later Northwestern error in the infield brings in another run, leaving it 2-0 Vols after one...

Monica Abbott has now struck out all six Northwestern batters she's faced [later amended by the ESPN announcer, who mentioned an infield hit the Wildcats had gotten], taking us to the bottom of the second...

Abbott now has eight strikeouts after two-and-a-half innings; still 2-0 Vols...

Abbott continues to roll along, with 15 strikeouts after five-and-a-half. After Tennessee, still leading 2-0, bats in the bottom of the sixth, Northwestern will be down to its final three outs...

The Vols add a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 3-0. Northwestern is up for its (potentially) final at-bats...

Garland Cooper, the first Wildcat batter of the inning, strikes out, Abbott's 16th K (the same number she's achieved in each of her two previous outings)... Nicole Pauly pops up to the catcher...

Up comes Erin Dyer, who in the past has been able to rescue Northwestern from "Dyer straits." Abbott strikes her out, her 17th of the game and 49th of this year's World Series...

Tennessee, which has fallen just short of making the World Series championship round each of the last two years, has finally broken through. The Vols are off until Monday night.

Washington vs. Arizona (Game 1)

Not much to report here. It's 0-0 after four complete. Each team has had some threats, but nothing's materialized...

Arizona breaks through in the bottom of the sixth, with a two-run double by Sam Banister...

Game over... On to a rematch tonight.