UW blanks Florida 8-0

OKLAHOMA CITY – Two months ago, Jenn Salling was a woman without a team. One month ago, she was mired in a slump that left her with a .100 batting average.

Now, she and an Olympic teammate are on the brink of leading Washington to its first NCAA softball championship.

Salling hit a two-run single that turned into a whole lot more in the third inning as the Huskies routed top-seeded Florida 8-0 Monday night in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series finals to snap the Gators’ 29-game winning streak.

Salling’s single brought in four runs when Florida catcher Kristina Hilbreth tried to catch a runner at second. Her throw sailed into center field.

Washington loaded the bases with a walk and two infield grounders before Salling lined a single through the infield that Kim Waleszonia fielded in shallow center. She fired home too late to get Ashley Charters, and Hilberth then zipped a throw back toward second that sailed over even Waleszonia.

Two more runs scored as the ball rolled into deep center a 4-0 lead.

A member of the Canadian Olympic team, Salling joined the Huskies late in the season. After transferring from Oregon, she wasn’t allowed to play until April because of NCAA rules and started her abbreviated season 0 for 13. Over her first month, she was hitting .100.

But Salling has turned it around. She’s hitting .413 (19 for 46) since May 7.

“My teammates have helped me immensely,” Salling said. “Picked me up when I felt down, picked me up when the confidence was down, picked me up when I didn’t know if I was the one who could do that job at that time.”

Now, she and national player of the year Danielle Lawrie, her teammate from the Olympics, have the third-seeded Huskies (50-12) within one win the national championship.

Game 2 of the best-of-3 series is tonight.

Lawrie (41-8) threw a two-hitter to set a Washington record with her 41st career shutout.

Ashley Charters added a two-run homer off Florida reliever Stephanie Brombacher in the sixth, setting a school record with her 95th hit of the season.

There was an awkward moment after Kelsey Bruder struck out to end the sixth inning as both teams lined up for postgame handshakes, thinking the game was over because of the 8-run mercy rule. However, the rule is not in effect during the championship series and the teams were told to resume play.

The grounds crew had already begun removing the bases from the field and the umpires had left, too.

“It should have been a run rule,” Florida coach Tim Walton said. “Overall, we’ve got to figure out a better way to approach the game (today). Obviously, this game is of highs and lows. I haven’t seen this team be this low before.”

Morgan Stuart added a two-run double in the fifth inning as the Huskies scored six runs off Stacey Nelson, the nation’s stingiest pitcher with an 0.48 ERA. Nelson (41-4) had consecutive shutouts to open the World Series and had given up more than two runs in a game only three times all season.