USF softball team beats Washington 3-1 in NCAA Fayetteville regional opener

South Florida scored twice in the top of the seventh to upset No. 7 seed Washington 3-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Fayetteville Regional on Friday.

The win sends the Bulls (43-15) into the second-round at 2 p.m. Saturday against host and No. 2 seed Arkansas (43-11), an 8-0 winner in six innings over Fordham. ESPN+ will telecast the game.

Washington (36-19) and Fordham (27-27) meet at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the double-elimination format. The winner stays alive to play the USF-Arkansas loser in an elimination game at 7 p.m.

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USF sophomore Anne Long scatted seven hits with five strikeouts after giving up a second-inning home run to Jadyn Glab. It was the 15^th complete game for Long (22-5), the American Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Alexa Galligani’s RBI-double in the third inning scored Kathy Garcia-Soto to tie the game.

In the seventh, Olivia Elliot, Garcia-Soto, Galligani and Alex Wilkes pieced together singles to pull ahead. Galligani’s shot to center scored Elliott from second base for the game-winning RBI, and Wilkes batted in Galligani for an insurance run.

"(Long) keeps us in the game," Garcia-Soto said. "So even though Ann like might have given up that one run home run, it doesn't matter. We're like, 'So what?' We we have the bats. We have the capability to score runs."

Long benefitted from a pair of highlight double plays that kept the game tied.

In the fourth inning, with Ava Carroll on first, Melody Acevedo’s hard-hit grounder was headed for center field. Wilkes dove from her shortstop position, snagged the ball and glove-flipped it to Garcia-Soto at second, who threw in time to Jamia Nelson at first base.

The trio also pulled the trick on Acevado in the sixth inning. Nelson fielded her grounder, threw to Wilkes to get Carroll at second, and Garcia-Soto took Wilkes’ relay at first.

Bulls coach Ken Eriksen said the plays gave his team momentum and confidence.

“Those are the two sickest double plays I've ever seen in my entire life,” said Eriksen, who has led the program since 1997. “And I mean to tell you that I've never seen things like that. And as as old as I get and as long as I stay in this game, and I've said this before, when you think you've seen it all, you just wait.”

Garcia-Soto finished 3-for-3 with a walk, and Wilkes went 3-for-4 with an RBI, extending her hitting streak to 10 games.