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Cal Wins Twice, Faces No. 1 Oklahoma in NCAA Softball Regional

Bears must beat powerful Sooners twice on Sunday to win the Norman, Okla., Regional
Jake Curtis|
Cal Wins Twice, Faces No. 1 Oklahoma in NCAA Softball Regional
Cal Wins Twice, Faces No. 1 Oklahoma in NCAA Softball Regional

Cal won two games on Saturday to avoid elimination, but the Bears now must beat No. 1-ranked Oklahoma twice on Sunday to win the Norman, Okla., Regional of the NCAA Softball tournament.

Cal (35-20-1) eliminated Hofstra 7-0 on Saturday afternoon to earn the right to face Missouri, the team that had handed Cal a 5-1 loss on Friday in the four-team, double-elimination Regional.

This time Cal defeated Missouri 7-5, eliminating the Tigers, who had lost to Oklahoma 11-0 earlier Saturday.

Cal standout Makena Smith had a home run in both games Saturday, helping Cal to the sweep.

So now Cal faces Oklahoma, which is 53-1, has won 45 games in a row and has outscored its two opponents in the Regionals by a combined score of 22-0.  The Sooners are unbeaten at home this season and lead the nation in runs per game, homers per game and pitching ERA. And they have won the past two national championships.

Cal will get a shot at the Sooners thanks to its win over Missouri.

In that game Smith went 2-for-3, including a two-run home run for Cal, and Tatum Anzaldo went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Sona Halajian added a seventh-inning home run, which was needed when Missouri launched a rally in the bottom of the seventh.

But the key to the Bears' victory was their defense, as they turned three double plays to get out of jams.

Freshman Elon Butler's second-inning RBI single gave Cal a 1-0 lead, and Anzaldo's run-scoring single and Smith's two-run home in the third made it 4-0. Anzaldo knocked in another run in the fourth to make it 5-0, before three consecutive Tigers batters -- Maddie Gallagher, Megan Moll and Payton Jackson -- hit solo home runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-3.

Cal added a run in the fifth, and Halajian's homer in the top of the seventh gave the Bears a four-run lead entering the bottom of the seventh.

Missouri scored twice in the seventh, but a Missouri baserunning blunder helped Cal record the second out before Cal reliever Haylei Archer got Julia Crenshaw .to ground out to short to end the game.

Earlier, the Bears had used the long ball to get past Hofstra (29-27) as the Bears' first six runs in that game were the result of home runs.

Butler got Cal on the board in the second inning with a solo blast, and a two-run shot by Acacia Anders and a solo homer by Smith in the third inning pushed the Bears' lead to 6-0.

Anders, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, added  run-scoring single in the seventh to boost the margin to 7-0.

Archer pitched the first five innings to get her 10th win of the season. She gave up five hits and a walk while striking out four.

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Cover photo of Acacia Anders

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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