Saturday, May 10, 2014

ST. GEORGE, Utah - Designated hitter Kailyn Campbell drove in eight runs and pitchers Maria Gau and Kiana Wood each allowed just one run as seventh-seed Central Washington advanced to the championship game of the St. George NCAA West Regional with 5-1 and 10-1 wins over third-seed Humboldt State and sixth-seed UC San Diego Saturday.

The Wildcats (32-19) will play No. 2 seed Dixie State Sunday at noon.  If CWU wins, a second game will be played to determine which teak advances to the NCAA Super Regional Best-of-Three final against top-seed Cal State Monterey Bay.

Gau allowed just four hits against CCAA champion Humboldt State as the Wildcats bounced the Lumberjacks.  Gau, who earned her 20th win against nine losses, took a three-hit shutout into the seventh before HSU (46-15) got on the board on a RBI single by Alison McKibbon.

Central was already ahead 5-0 at that point after scoring two runs in the third on a double by Campbell and three in the sixth on a two-out dropped fly ball by left fielder Dani Randall.  CWU had just five hits in the game, three by catcher Austin Wilkerson.

The Wildcats then routed UC San Diego (34-18) to advance to Sunday's game, scoring four runs in the third on a grand slam home run by Campbell and six in the sixth in the seventh, two on a single by Campbell and three on a home run by Andrea Hamada. Wilkerson had a RBI single for the sixth run.

Kiana Wood improved to 9-3 with her victory against the Tritons, allowing five hits.  She walked two and struck out one.