Nebraska No. 2 seed

vs.

Arizona State No. 3 seed

Score by Innings		1	2	3		4	5	6		7		R	H	E
Nebraska (35-21)		0	0	0		1	1	0		0		2	5	1
Arizona State (41-26)		0	3	1		0	0	0		x		4	5	3

Arizona State advances to Women's College World Series

Boxscore and Play-By-Play

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Alumni Field)
Event: NCAA Regional 6 Softball Championship (Championship Game)
Result: Arizona State 4, Nebraska 2
Records: Arizona State (41-26); Nebraska (35-21)
Next ASU Game: Thursday, May 27 -- vs. Washington at NCAA Women's College World Series, TBA
Next Nebraska Game: Nebraska eliminated from regional with 4-2 record

ASU Rides Freshman Pitching, Hitting to Regional Title

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Arizona State advanced to the NCAA Women's College World Series for the first time in 12 years, riding the pitching and hitting of freshmen Erica Beach and Kirsten Voak in a 4-2 win vs. Nebraska in the NCAA Regional 6 Championship Sunday afternoon (May 23) at the University of Michigan's Alumni Field.

ASU (41-26) advances to face NCAA Regional 3 champion Washington in the first round of the WCWS on Thursday (May 27) in Oklahoma City, Okla. Nebraska, which forced the second championship game by beating Arizona State 2-1 in eight innings earlier Sunday, bows out of the NCAA Championship with a 35-21 record.

On defense, Beach and Voak combined in the pitching circle to hold the Huskers to five hits and three walks while recording seven strikeouts. Offensively, the freshmen collected two hits apiece, each finishing with an extra-base hit -- Voak's a third-inning solo home run to centerfield and Beach's a fifth-inning double along the rightfield line.

Arizona State scored three runs in the second inning to force Nebraska into a catch-up game. Husker pitcher Jenny Voss walked both Voak and Holly Smith to begin the inning and both scored on an Andrea Rodgers fielder's choice and error by Nebraska second baseman Jennifer Lizama. Jen Langenhuizen's sacrifice fly to centerfield sent Erin Wardein in for the third run. ASU scored what would be its final run of the game on Voak's solo home run in the third.

Nebraska came back with single runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to cut the Arizona State lead to 4-2. Alice Brewer's rightfield double got the Huskers on the board, scoring Jamie Fuente, who led off the inning with a single. In the fifth, Lizama scored after reaching on a leadoff walk.

A 93-minute rain delay -- the second of the game -- came in the middle of the fifth inning. When play resumed, Nebraska fought off the Sun Devils, stranding runners at second and third in the bottom of the fifth and retiring ASU in order in the sixth. The Huskers got on base in both the sixth -- an Ellen Middleton walk -- and the seventh -- a Lizama reach by infield error -- but stranded both at first base.

Q U O T E S

Nebraska Head Coach Rhonda Revelle
On her team's performance in the regional ... "I am really, really proud of this team. They played their hearts out, left it on the field and they never gave up for a second. They never believed they were out of it, and this is a team in the last three years has been in the Sweet 16. No one predicted us to be where we were today and we had an internal belief that we could be here and I tip my hat and give all the credit to this team for sticking together, for gelling, and for rising to the occasion."

On her feelings for her team ... "I'm very passionate about this group and feel very passionate about how they did because, against all odds and against what every one else said, coming off of the 1998 season, nobody even thought we would be even close to here. In fact, the pollsters never even put us in the poll, that's how much they thought we would be here."

Junior Second Baseman Jennifer Lizama
On the game-winning home run against Florida Atlantic in the day's first game ... "I was pretty relaxed because I wanted to win the ballgame and I had nothing to lose. I hadn't had a hit all tournament to that point, and I felt it was a good a time as any to get a hit ... finally."

Junior Pitcher Jennifer Voss
On her pitching performance with all the delays ... "I felt like I didn't skip a beat. Even when Leigh Ann (Walker) went in for me, Rhonda (Revelle) said as I came out that I might not be done yet, so I kept myself where I needed to be through all the rain delays. I just kept myself in the game mentally and prepared for every situation that was to come up."

On preparing for next season ... "I know that we won't settle for anything less than what we got today, and I think I will make a statement right now that you can expect us to be back in the World Series. I don't think that the class of juniors and seniors-to-be is going to stand for anything less."

Arizona State Head Coach Linda Wells
On the regional ... "About everything happened that could. Certainly, I want to give a lot of credit to the sports committee because I felt they did a fine job of selecting teams for this regional. It's unfortunate the weather was so bad that we really didn't have a group here to watch the game because it was battle."

On her team's performance against the Cornhuskers ... "Nebraska is a really nice team. As much as I know they are disappointed, they really did play well. They just kept coming. It was never a situation that it was over."

On her team ... "I would just like to give credit to my team for continuing to try and control the things we could, which didn't seem to be the weather. We are just proud to be going to Oklahoma City and fortunate from the teams that were represented here at this regional. We just hope we can do some damage in Oklahoma."

Freshman Pitcher and Most Outstanding Player Kirsten Voak
On getting to the World Series, ending the 12-year drought ... "Well, it's definitely a good thing to end a drought, but from the beginning of the season, every team sets goals, and making it to the World Series was one of ours. It's just something you work through your whole season, your whole life. It's one of those things you want to reach and it's a special thing."

Freshman Pitcher Erica Beach
On the Sun Devils making it to the Women's College World Series ... "We knew we had the potential. It just depends which team shows up to the field. I guess we've shown that we are really a tournament team, we've kind of proved that this season."

On her team's performance at the regional ... "I think all we did was just look for the best and we did. I know we had the toughest conference, but we figured that we could come out and just say to ourselves that this is a whole new season ... starting with regionals. So we just started over and decided to have some fun and to see what we could do."

N O T E S

• With the NCAA Regional 6 championship, it gives Arizona State its first trip back to the College World Series since 1987. It also marks the first time under head coach Linda Wells that the Sun Devils will make the trip to Oklahoma City.

• Kirsten Voak's 24th victory on the season ties the Arizona State all-time record for wins in a season. She ties Roxanne Tsosie and Donna Stewart with the mark.

• First-year Arizona State assistant coach Sara Griffin collected her fifth straight NCAA Regional Championship at Michigan's Alumni Field. Griffin, a former All-American for the Wolverines (1995-98), was the winning pitcher in Michigan's 1995 (vs. Notre Dame, 15-6), 1996 (vs. South Carolina, 10-1), and 1998 (vs. DePaul, 3-0) regional titles, and a member of the Wolverines' 1997 regional championship squad.

Last updated: Sunday, 23-May-1999 21:25:59 EDT