ORANGE CRUSHED -- Arizona Wins National Title

Congratulations to the Wildcats!

Last chance for Tennessee... Schutzler strikes out... Callahan likewise... Huff walks... Doepking grounds out to third...

Dare I say it, the Vols have runners on first and second with no outs in the sixth... After a fly out to left, a wild pitch (or passed ball) puts both runners in scoring position for Posey... An infield hit to third loads the bases for Tennessee's most clutch hitter, Chiles... A liner down the left-filed stripe just goes foul by about 2 feet! Chiles bloops one up behind third base (probably going foul), nice catch by Fox for the second out... Danielle Pieroni to pinch hit (what a spot for a newcomer)... hanging in there with a 3-2 count... strikes out swinging, ending the inning and extending Mowatt's scoreless-inning streak to 16 (during the at-bat, the announcers had quoted the figure at 15 2/3)...

Tennessee now has six offensive outs to score at least five runs... Doesn't seem too likely, does it?

U of A's Lowe gets her third infield hit, a dribbler to the circle. By the time Abbott picks up the ball and turns around to throw, it's futile... Arredondo belts a double to left... Second and third, no outs... Fox gets another intentional walk, loading the bases... Leles singles hard up the middle, driving in two runs... 2-0 Arizona...... Three-run homer for Chelsie Mesa, 5-0 Arizona...

Chiles leads off with an infield hit... During one of the breaks, Vol co-coach Ralph Weekly was interviewed about his team's Left On Base problem (14 yesterday, 6 tonight at the time of the interview). The coaches had the players study videotape of their previous at-bats against Taryne Mowatt, but, as Weekly contended, the Tennessee batters still weren't executing... Kajitani then pops a bunt up, illustrating Weekly's point... Schutzler gets a sharp groundball single to left, runners on first and second, one out... Callahan up, but the count quickly becomes 0-2... leading to a strikeout on three pitchers... It's up to Huff, with two outs... Abbott, who was pretty calm in the dugout in similar situations last night, is now seated alone in the position of the famous statue, The Thinker... Huff strikes out. Another donut, bagel, [fill in circular object of your choice] for Tennessee. Still scoreless, going to the bottom of the fifth...

A rare quick half-inning (for either team) as Abbott seems to regain her groove. Up come the Vols to start off the fifth...

A couple of between-inning observations, both initially pointed out by the televisions announcers: (1) Whether it's the same or a different home-plate ump tonight relative to last night, the pitchers seem to be getting a smaller strike zone; and (2) given Tennessee's difficulties in advancing runners by swinging away, the team may start bunting more (as was done last half-inning).

Tennessee's Shannon Doepking leads off the fourth with a walk... Clay in a marathon at-bat, fouling off pitches with a 3-2 count... she strikes out, swinging at a pitch that was in the next county (that's how far outside it was)... Horiuchi bunts the runner to second, two outs... Anita Manuma pinch-hitting for Posey... ground-out to first, still scoreless...

Lowe leads off the bottom of the third with another infield single, bunted to second by Arredondo, one out... Intentionally walked, Kristie Fox trots to first... Leles up, takes the count to 3-1, the Vol catcher goes to the circle to calm down Abbott, but she walks Leles on the next pitch, anyway... Bases loaded, one out for Chelsie Mesa... On a 2-2 pitch, it's a close call, and the ump says "ball," 3-2... Now here's a bizarre play -- Mesa hits a short, bouncing blooper between first and second and Leles, heading to second, collides with the second-baseperson Posey. Leles is called out for interference... Bases still loaded, no runs, two outs... Abbott K's the next batter, ending the threat... The ledger's a little more balanced now in terms of squandered opportunities...

Kenora Posey leads off with a bloop hit to shallow left... Posey steals second, India Chiles facing a 3-2 count at the plate... I know I've said it a bunch of times, but Chiles continues to amaze, beating out an inning grounder even with her recent (mid-May) ACL tear... First and second (Posey was being held), no outs (like Tennessee hasn't had situations like this before -- smirk)... Nicole Kajitani, inserted as part of the Vols' line-up transformation, K's for the first out... Lindsay Schutzler pops out... Those Tennessee fans must be thinking, "We've seen this movie before..." Tonya Callahan at the plate, 2-0 count... she walks, loading the bases with two out, up comes Tiffany Huff... She strikes out... Call it cynicism on my part, or call it realism, but Tennessee again fails to capitalize on a promising opportunity...

The Wildcats' Callista Balko gets her first hit of the 2007 World Series, a sharp double to the wall in left... A ground-out to Abbott ends the inning... Still scoreless, going to the third...

Tonya Callahan leads off the second with a solid single to right... After a strikeout by the next batter, Shannon Doepking bunts for a base hit down the third-base line. U of A lets the ball keep rolling, thinking (or hoping) it will go foul, but it never does. There've been a couple of other bunts like that this World Series... Lowe makes an excellent catch on a drive to left-center by Alexia Clay... A strike-out ends the inning... Going to the bottom of the second, 0-0...

After a scoreless top of the first, Caitlin Lowe, who's been quiet in this series, leads off for Arizona with an infield single... K'Lee Arredondo follows with a walk... The next batter (probably Kristie Fox) is out on a pop/blooper to the shortstop, who is standing on second as she makes the catch. A freeze-frame on the replay shows that Lowe should have been called out trying to get back to the bag, but she isn't... Jenae Leles strikes out, two down... Chelsie Mesa fouls out to end the inning...

Here we go! Arizona's the home team, so Tennessee is batting first. Vol co-coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly have scrambled the line-up a little bit...

Wednesday night, for all the marbles!

Tennessee's last chance, as the Vols come up in the bottom of the tenth... Doepking strikes out... Alexia Clay comes up... and U of A throws away an apparently easy throw to first base on a routine grounder... One out, runner on first, pinch-hitter Anita Manuma steps to the plate... and strikes out... The Vols are down to their last out! Horiuchi up... grounds into a force at second. Game over! 1-0.

U of A's Sam Banister slides a line single to left... Bunted to second, one out... Callista Balko up (0-19 in the World Series) also bunts, and the first-baseperson drops the throw to her... Hard to tell, but she probably would have been out, in my view... First and third, one out, for Adrienne Acton... Danielle Rodriguez, inserted as a pinch-runner for Banister, scores from third on an infield grounder -- a very close play at the plate. The key is whether Rodriguez got her hand on the back of the plate, and the ump said "yes." Inning over, 1-0 Arizona, Abbott's scoreless inning streak in this World Series ends at 37 and 1/3, which I'm sure means nothing to Abbott at this point...

Posey leads off with a ground single to right for Tennessee. In previous innings, the team has had difficulty bunting. India Chiles comes up. There's probably no one better at placing the ball strategically... Chiles swings at a ball out of the strike zone (making the count 2-2), but the distraction perhaps is what allows Posey to steal second... Vol co-coach Ralph Weekly can't watch... Chiles strikes out... Schutzler coming up, Wildcats holding a committee meeting to decide whether to walk her, and it looks like they are... First and second, one out... How many times has Tennessee had this situation? Pat Summitt looks on intently.. Again, does Huff have the right stuff? Abbott, on the bench, looks very composed, laughing... Fly-out to left-center, well-hit, but no problem for Caitlin Lowe... Callahan comes up... Punched out looking on a high strike on a 3-2 pitch... We've finished nine innings and the 'Cats have shown nine lives!

Kristie Fox gets a one-out infield single to deep shortstop for the Wildcats... Jenae Leles stays alive with two strikes, fouling off a bunch of pitches, before grounding into a force-out of the runner going to second... A pop-up ends the inning...

Shannon Doepking with a lead-off single to right... The next batter (whose name I missed) pops up a bunt... The aforementioned Griffin comes up... and strikes out looking... Horiuchi, who's had a good game in the field, is now up... and is thrown out by the catcher on a very short grounder... To the ninth...

Abbott again nonchalantly retires the side in the eighth. Vol third-baseperson Jennifer Griffin makes a nice quick throw to first on a grounder to get the second out...

We're going to extra innings. Oh the drama, oh the humanity! The only thing that could be more exciting is if this were Game 3 instead of Game 2...

Bottom of the seventh coming up... Just one run stands between Tennessee and the NCAA national championship... The Vols' Kenora Posey is thrown out at firt attempting to bunt for a base-hit... India Chiles is up; can she do it again? No, she strikes out! Up comes Lindsay Schutzler... A solid single to right-center... Does Tiffany Huff have the right stuff? Whether she does or not, she's gotten a walk. First and second with two outs... Wildcat meeting on the mound, Tonya Callahan coming up. A well-placed hit to the outfield will do it, especially with the runners able to take off with two outs... Callahan flies to left...

U of A not going quietly in the top of the seventh , with a two-out walk... Abbott strikes out the next batter... She's not allowed a run in 35 innings pitched at this World Series!

Abbott sets a new record for strikeouts in a World Series, with 65, to end the top of the sixth. You may have noticed that I haven't been writing much about Arizona's at-bats. Well, as the ESPN announcers have pointed out, the Wildcats have not had a runner in scoring position since the second inning. Vols coming up... A walk to a Tennessee batter, but nothing else doing. We go to the seventh, 0-0...

I know this sounds like a recording, but Tennessee once again has runners on first and second with no outs, this time in the bottom of the fifth... And India Chiles has yet another hit, an infield hit loading the bases, still no outs... The hit brings Chiles's 2007 World Series average to .500... Force out at home on a grounder to the pitcher, one out, bases loaded... Pop-up for two outs... The pressure's really on Tonya Callahan to do something... A bloop out to shortstop, still no score.

It's the bottom of the fourth, and the Vols have runners on first and second with no outs. A walk and then a "safe" call at second when Mowatt tried to get the lead runner on a bunt have brought us to this point... However, a sharp grounder to U of A third-baseperson Jenae Leles results in a 5-3 double-play (stepping on the bag and then throwing to first)... The next batter grounds out... Still no score...

Tennessee shortstop Liane Horiuchi, whose name hasn't been called very often, has been having a nice game in the field. In the just-concluded top of the fourth, she made a nice grab of a hot line-drive off the bat of Kristie Fox. In the previous inning, she vacuumed up two grounders and threw out the runners...

The Vols' India Chiles, running with her torn ACL, beats out a bunt for an infield single with one out in the bottom of the third. The next batter is retired on a fly-out, so there are now two outs... and make it three, with Mowatt striking out Tiffany Huff after falling behind 3-0 in the count... Still no score...

Now it's Tennessee threatening in the bottom of the second, with runners at first and second and one out. The runners have come from a walk and bloop hit to center. There's a lot of talk about how Wildcat pitcher Taryne Mowatt has a blister at the end of one of her fingers on her pitching hand... In a mirror image of the top of the inning, Mowatt gets two straight K's to end the inning...

Arizona has a bit of a threat going in the top of the second, with runners on first and second and one out. Tennessee -- behind pitcher Monica Abbott -- has not allowed a run during the entire World Series...

Lady Vol basketball coach Pat Summitt was just shown in the stands. Did I call it or did I call it? (See my Pregame Thoughts from yesterday, below.)

Getting back to the Arizona threat, Abbott strikes out two in a row (for five overall), putting an end to the Wildcat rally.

Arizona's down to its last strike, but forestalls defeat with a bloop single... It's 0-2 on the next hitter, so again, the Wildcats are down to their final strike; this time it's an easy fly-out to center. Vols win 3-0. Monica Abbott puts up "only" eight strikeouts. Tennessee will try to close it out tomorrow night.

Tennessee's staging a late rally to get some insurance runs. In the top of the seventh, with two outs and the bases loaded... (cue the Hollywood suspense music)... India Chiles comes up as a pinch-hitter and, sure enough, hits a bloop single up the middle. It's now 3-0 Vols...

Shannon Doepking just pulverizes a drive to left, 2-0 Tennessee with one out, top of the fourth...

Surprise, surprise. Tennessee frosh Alexia Clay, quiet for much of the World Series, homers with two out in the top of the second to make it 1-0 Vols (the first inning was quite uneventful)...

One important development at gametime is that Tennessee's India Chiles, whom I've discussed extensively in previous postings including today's "Pregame Thoughts," is being held out of the starting line-up. Whether she'll come in later tonight and/or play in the remaining games of the World Series remains to be seen.

Some pregame thoughts...

I think the key to the final series will be Tennessee's offensive production. Monica Abbott is going to allow few -- if any -- runs. She'll dominate most of the time -- with her World Series average of 2.33 strikeouts per inning.

But Arizona will undoubtedly threaten a couple of times, as it did in the teams' first match-up in OKC. With Caitlin Lowe and Kristie Fox as the pillars of the offense, and others such as Sam Banister and Jenae Leles coming up with clutch hits, the U of A is always dangerous.

The Wildcats' Taryne Mowatt is obviously not a power-pitcher like Abbott, and the Arizona hurler can be wild at times. Still, Mowatt finds a way to avoid giving up runs. One thing I've noticed -- and without proper statistical analysis, it remains purely a conjecture -- is that Mowatt seems to spread around the instances in which runners get on base. This obviously minimizes the other team's scoring potential. The brief stretch last night against Washington, when the Huskies put together three straight singles, really seemed to be an exception.

The Vols' India Chiles has been nothing short of spectacular, not merely playing with a torn ACL from a couple weeks ago, but playing extremely well. She may be Tennessee's most consistent hitter at this point. Other players, such as Lindsay Schutzler, Tonya Callahan, Shannon Doepking, Kenora Posey, and Tiffany Huff, are going to have to string together combinations of walks and hits to score some runs for Abbott.

Shifting from keys to the game to what a championship would mean for each school, Tennessee is in position to capture two key jewels -- if not the key jewels -- of women's collegiate sport in the same year. Earlier, of course, the Lady Vol basketball team won Coach Pat Summitt's seventh NCAA title.

No school has won the NCAA women's basketball and softball titles in the same year, thus far. On one of the telecasts, the announcers mentioned that Abbott met with Summitt during the former's recruiting visit. To my knowledge, Summitt has not been at any of this year's softball World Series games. Might she come in for the championship series? If she does, will she lead the Tenneseee fans in their traditional song, Rocky Top?

Over at the Arizona athletics site, there's a display of the seven previous NCAA softball trophies the school has won, with the heading: "Arizona Two Wins from Eighth NCAA Title."

If you want to read even more about the Arizona-Tennessee match-up, ESPN.com's Graham Hays has written a dissertation on it.