The inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament moved closer to crowning a champion Friday night.
Top-seeded UCLA (52-4) and No. 3 seed Utah (36-13) both won semifinal games to advance to Saturday's title matchup at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Utah got homers from Ellessa Bonstrom and Julia Jimenez in its 8-4 win over No. 2 seed Washington in Friday's first game. Former Cienega High School star Mariah Lopez (17-6) went the distance for Utah, allowing 11 hits and striking out two.
In the nightcap, Brooke Yanez (16-1) threw a two-hit shutout, striking out six, as UCLA blanked No. 4-seeded Stanford 1-0. The Bruins scored the game's only run when a single by Savannah Pola drove in Maya Brady in the bottom of the sixth inning.
All four teams that played Friday are locks to make the NCAA Tournament. The same can’t be said for host Arizona, which fell 4-3 to UCLA in the quarterfinals Thursday.
The Wildcats are 29-25, but they were just 6-18 in Pac-12 play during the regular season. Their RPI was 51 as of Friday night. They haven’t been left out of the NCAA Tournament since 1986.
Will Arizona get the benefit of the doubt because of its status as softball royalty? Because the Pac-12 is a powerhouse conference? Because slugger Carlie Scupin is now back after missing about six weeks because of injury?
Those are questions only the selection committee can answer. The field of 64 will be revealed at 4 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.
Arizona had the lead for much of the game against UCLA, which is No. 2 in RPI, before the Burins rallied. That was one of three quarterfinal games decided by one run.
The Wildcats have a 1-7 record in one-run games. They’re 1-22 when scoring five or fewer runs.
