OKLAHOMA CITY -- After throwing more than 1,000 pitches in a week to lead Arizona to its eighth NCAA softball title, Taryne Mowatt finally admitted the obvious.
"Now that the week is over, I can admit I'm extremely tired now," said Mowatt, who set a Women's College World Series record by pitching 60 innings.
"My arm, it's felt better."
But it was well worth it.
Mowatt (42-12) finished what she started and Arizona's batters broke loose against Tennessee ace Monica Abbott for a 5-0 victory Wednesday night.
"I can't remember seeing a gritty performance by an athlete as this young lady gave us because everything was on her shoulders and she did it," said Wildcats coach Mike Candrea, who also coaches the U.S. Olympic team and counts Jennie Finch and Alicia Hollowell among his former players at Arizona.
The top-seeded Wildcats (50-14-1) lost the opener in the best-of-3 championship series, then bounced back to win the final two games.
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| Taryne Mowatt sets a Women's College World Series record by pitching 60 innings. (AP) |
It was scoreless in the fifth inning when Arizona scored all five runs. Jenae Leles hit a two-run single and Chelsie Mesa added a three-run homer.
Arizona, which needed help from an error to break Abbott's 43-inning scoreless streak in Game 2, got several key hits against the hard-throwing lefty this time.
Caitlin Lowe, Arizona's speedy leadoff hitter, started the fifth inning by reaching on a slapped grounder back to Abbott (50-5). K'Lee Arredondo followed with a single, and an error by right fielder Nicole Kajitani put runners at second and third.
Abbott then intentionally walked Kristie Fox, who tied the tournament record with 11 hits, to load the bases for Mesa. It was the second time Abbott had pitched around Fox to get to Mesa.
"They kept walking Kristie to get to me, so that was bugging me a little bit," Leles said. "I knew I just wanted to get the ball on the ground somewhere and get it through."
