After the double-elimination regional round, several Foothill League softball alumni remain in the NCAA Division 1 Softball Tournament. If these SCV products and their teams make it through the upcoming Super Regionals, they’ll advance to the 2019 Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Here are the area alumni making some noise in the tournament so far:
Amanda Doyle, Canyon, LSU
The Tigers beat Texas Tech 5-1 in the double-elimination Baton Rouge Regional at Tiger Park on May 19, with Doyle playing a part in getting some scoring momentum going.
In the third inning, LSU’s Shelbi Sunseri singled to get on base, then Shemiah Sanchez grounded out to move her to second. Doyle was walked to get Sunseri to third and Amanda Sanchez was walked to get the Tigers on the board.
Doyle, a first baseman went 1-for-2 at the plate and was walked once. On defense, she had three putouts.
In the NCAA Regionals, LSU beat Monmouth 2-0, then moved on to beat Texas Tech 5-4. The Tigers lost to Texas Tech 5-4 in the next game before coming back to win 5-1 in the next contest.
The Tigers next play Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Friday at 2 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Jessie Harper, West Ranch, University of Arizona
Harper continued her trend of quality hits as she cracked three home runs against Auburn to help the Wildcats to a 12-3 win on May 19. The win sends Arizona to the Super Regionals for the 14th time in the 15-year history of the playoff format.
Harper was 5-for-5 with three runs and five RBIs.
Arizona first beat Harvard 5-1 before moving on to beat Auburn 2-1, then 12-3.
In the Super Regionals, the Wildcats will play Ole Miss in a best-of-three series in Tuscon on Friday at 3 p.m. on ESPNU.
Mariah Lopez, Saugus, Oklahoma
Oklahoma shut out UMBC 12-0 to begin the NCAA Regionals, then shut out Wisconsin 4-0. The Badgers forced a third game by beating the Sooners 2-1, but Oklahoma was able to battle back for a 2-0 win on May 19 and earn a trip to the Super Regionals.
Lopez didn’t see any action in the circle against Wisconsin, but is part of an Oklahoma team that logged a Division 1 single-season record of 41 straight wins.
Up next for the Sooners is Northwestern. The series is set to take place in Norman, Oklahoma and starts on Friday at noon on ESPN2.
MORE: Foothill League softball well-represented at NCAA Tournament
Shea O’Leary, Valencia, Texas
O’Leary pitched the final 2/3 innings for Texas against Sam Houston State on May 17. She gave up two hits, one run and recorded no strikeouts in the game.
Sam Houston went on to win 2-1 and hand O’Leary her second loss of the season.
After the loss, the Longhorns were able to beat Texas A&M 3-2 in eight innings before taking on Sam Houston State once again, this time shutting them out 3-0.
Texas then beat Houston 5-2 and 7-0 to punch a ticket to the Super Regionals. Texas will play Alabama on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Tuscaloosa on ESPN.
