May 21, 2006
IOWA CITY, IA – The California Golden Bears won the 2006 NCAA Region 10 Championship with a 6-1 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers Sunday. Cal advances to face the winner of Oregon State and Baylor in Super Regionals next weekend.
The Golden Bears broke onto the scoreboard in the top of the fourth with a trio of runs. Lindsay James and Haley Woods led things off with a pair of singles, followed by an wild play in which Emily Friedman laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, but was called out for retreating back towards home in an attempt to avoid the tag. Both runners were forced to return to their bases.
Katie Vickers made the Bears forget about the controversy by ripping an RBI double down the rightfield line to give Cal a 1-0 lead. Woods then scored on a wild pitch, followed by an RBI groundout from Chole Kloezman that plated Vickers and gave the Bears a 3-0 lead.
The Golden Bears threatened again in the top of the fifth, putting two runners on for Friedman. The second baseman then hit a towering fly ball that was caught just in front of the leftfield wall to end the inning.
Cal broke the game wide open in the top of he seventh, scoring three more insurance runs. The Bears loaded the bases with no outs and chased Nebraska starter Ashley DeBuhr from the game. The junior was replaced by Molly Hill.
It didn’t matter who was on the mound to the Bears, who welcomed Hill to the game with an RBI single that ricocheted off her leg. Vickers followed that up with a two-run single.
Trisha Tannahill did what she could to keep her Huskers alive, blasting a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the seventh. The homer broke Cal pitcher Kristina Thorson’s streak of 40-consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
Thorson finished the game with a strikeout, which was her 13th of the game.
GAME SUMMARY
| CALIFORNIA | 000 300 3 — 6 9 1 |
| NEBRASKA | 000 000 1 — 1 3 0 |
WP – Kristina Thorson (35-8)
LP – Ashley DeBuhr (26-10)
LOB – CAL (7), NEB (4)