— By David Walsh
Grace Jenkins provided the punch and Jenae Berry did the work on the mound in crunch time to lead Arizona past Marshall, 7-5, Friday in the NCAA Regional Softball Tournament at Duke’s Smith Family Stadium iin Durham, N.C.
Jenkins, who hits from the left side, poked two three-run home runs to spark the Wildcats on offense in a game where all but one run scored via the long ball.
Berry was the third pitcher used by Arizona. She came on with no outs in the seventh after reliever Rylie Holder gave up a solo homer to the Thundering Herd’s Sydni Burko. Berry fanned Ava Blake on a called third strike, got Diamond Leslie on a fly to center and Tia Titi on a pop out to second to record a save and help end a three-game losing streak.
“I’m proud of how the team competed,” Herd coach Morgan Zerkle said. “We have to do the little things better to give us a better chance to win. Make a few smarter plays. That looked like Marshall softball. Don’t count us out. We’ve got a lot left to play.”
Arizona (36-16) will meet host and No. 13 seed Duke in a winner’s bracket game Saturday at 1 p.m. The Herd will face Howard at 3:30 p.m. in an elimination game, and should it win, Marshall would play again at 6 against the loser of the first game. The double-elimination event wraps up Sunday.
Marshall (37-18) belted four homers to bring its single-season record total to 93. Burko smacked two to up her total to 23, also a single-season record.
“We proved we belong,” said Burko, who played at Cabell Midland just like her coach did. “It showed today. We were scrappy and competed. On the homers, anybody can go out at any time.”
Bella Gerlach had a solo homer in the second for the third homer and the fourth came from Chandler Hoskins in the sixth, a two-run shot to cut the deficit to 7-4.
“Coach prepared us well,” Gerlach said. “We were more confident.”
Jenkins came through for Arizona with six RBIs. She blasted a three-run shot in the first and another three-run blast in a four-run fifth inning.
Jalen Adams (21-9) worked 5.1 innings for the Wildcats to get the win.
Paige Maynard went all six innings on the mound for Marshall.
This is the 11th straight regional Arizona has won its opening game. The last loss for the Wildcats in first-round action was in 2013 against Baylor.
In the first, Arizona got two hits to set up the blast by Jenkins. In the fifth, Jenkins belted her second three-run homer to give her 14 on the season. The non-homer run came on an RBI single by Taylor Biehl in the fifth. That opportunity came about after Sereniti Trice, who went 3-for-3, slapped a ball to left off the bag at third for a single. With Jenkins up, the Wildcats had runners at second and third.
In the fourth, Gerlach appeared to account for a leadoff double, but the Wildcats appealed the call and it got reversed for an out.
Marshall entered play with a .183 batting average over its last seven games. The Herd totaled eight hits as did Arizona. Burko, Gerlach and Hoskins had two each.
“Today was less nerves. The least nervous I’ve been all season,” Zerkle said. “We were prepared and meant to be here.”
In the first game, Duke resorted to the long ball to thump Howard, 10-1, in five innings. Kairi Rodriguez belted a two-run shot in the sixth for the walk-ff. The Blue Devils sent six out of the park to raise their single-season record to 102. Tyrina Jones and Gabriella Shadek each had two homers.