The Arizona Wildcats are moving on to Tucson regional championship.
The No. 2-seeded Wildcats defeated South Carolina 5-0 on Saturday afternoon at Hillenbrand Stadium. Both teams opened the weekend with wins Friday night.
The Wildcats were helped by a dominant performance from senior pitcher Danielle O’Toole, who pitched a complete-game shutout and struck out seven batters while walking none. O’Toole (29-4) had a no-hitter going into the final inning and had retired 14 straight batters before Victoria Williams hit a double.
Arizona scored its first run of the game on a solo Katiyana Mauga home run deep to centerfield in the third inning. The home run was Mauga’s 91st of her career, breaking the Pac-12 career record and putting her within four of the NCAA mark of 95, held by Oklahoma’s Lauren Chamberlain. Mauga drove in two more runs in the fifth inning on a single to right field.
Arizona finished with 11 hits in the win, and now will await the rest of Saturday’s results to find out their opponent for Sunday’s regional championship. South Carolina will face the winner of the 4 p.m. New Mexico State-Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) game, with the winner advancing to face the UA at 4 p.m. Sunday.
