Three homers carried the Gophers to a 6-3 victory over Fresno State on Saturday night in a losers' bracket game in the UCLA softball regional at the Bruins' stadium. It was the Gophers' second victory of the day — they beat Long Beach State 11-0 — and they advance to the title game against UCLA at 5 p.m. Sunday.
The Bruins, the top seed in this regional and the No. 2 overall seed nationally, have not lost yet this weekend. So Minnesota (31-12) will have to beat UCLA twice to advance to a super regional.
The 5 p.m. game is scheduled to be shown on ESPN2.
A tough task, no doubt, but the Gophers, who were shut out 3-0 on Friday by Fresno State, have their bats going.
In the rematch against the Bulldogs, the Gophers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Natalie DenHartog's two-run homer — her team-high 15 of the season. She drove in another run in the third on an RBI single.
All of Minnesota's other runs came on homers. Sydney Strelow hit a two-run homer in the fourth, only her third of the season, to make it 5-3. She probably had a bit of extra adrenalin going for her because she halted a Fresno State rally only minutes before.
The Bulldogs (37-12) had scored two runs to tie the score at 3-all in the bottom of the third. But then, on a single down the right-field line, Strelow's strong throw from the outfield out a Fresno State runner at home for the third out.
MaKenna Partain's solo homer in the fifth put the Gophers ahead 6-3.
Autumn Pease, a junior righthander, got the win for the Gophers. She gave up five hits in six innings.
Amber Fiser pitched the seventh and got into a jam. Fresno State loaded the bases with leadoff hit and, with two outs, a walk and a hit off the third baseman's glove. Then Fiser got a glove on a hard shot up the middle, slowing it down so shortstop Carlie Brandt could reach the ball and throw out the batter.
Taking advantage of walks and their opponents' shabby defense early and getting a grand slam from DenHartog in the seventh inning, the Gophers routed Long Beach State.
Fiser limited the Beach to two hits and struck out seven in six innings. She retired the first 10 hitters and allowed only two runners to reach second base. Ava Dueck replaced her for the final inning and gave up one hit.
The Gophers scored twice in the first inning. Partain walked, Ellee Jensen had a bunt single and, with one out, Katelyn Kemmetmueller hit a grounder to the second baseman whose throw to second base to start a double play went into center field and both runners scored.
Minnesota got three more runs in the third. After two walks, DenHartog, the Big Ten's home run leader this season, laid down her second sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. One run scored on a wild pitch, and Emily Hansen's single drove in two more.
In the middle of that rally, the Beach (30-11) got a Gophers runner in a rundown between home and third base, but Jensen managed to get back to third and two other runners were also safe.
"She [Fiser] is throwing the ball really well," Long Beach State coach Kim Sowder said during a midgame interview by the TV broadcasters. "We have to try to put the ball in play. And we have to play better defense
Strelow's RBI single off the shortstop's glove made it 6-0 in the fifth, but Minnesota also had a runner thrown out at home on a delayed double steal. The Gophers' final five runs came in the seventh on Sara Kinch's solo homer and DenHartog's grand slam.
UCLA 5, Fresno State 4 (8): Aaliyah Jordan's two-out, two-strike single for the Bruins scored Alyssa Garcia and Kinsley Washington in the top of the eighth inning to break a 1-all tie. UCLA, 43-4 and the No. 2 seed in the overall field, went on to score four runs. Fresno State got three runs in the bottom of the inning but its rally fell short when it stranded runners on second and third. The Bruins trailed 1-0 until Rachel Garcia's long RBI single over the right fielder's head in the seventh. Rachel Garcia got the win on a five-hitter.
