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Lexington, Ky. • Coach Amy Hogue's Utah Utes took a big step toward college softball's holy grail, the College World Series, with a thrilling, 5-3 win over the host Kentucky Wildcats late Sunday afternoon in NCAA regional tournament action.
Coming out of the winners' bracket, the Utes (36-20) had to win only one of two vs. the Wildcats (46-14) Sunday to get the job done.
Kentucky eased to a 4-0 win in Game 1 — with sophomore pitcher Miranda Viramontes (9-8) going the distance on the mound and taking the loss for Utah.
Junior Meagan Prince (21-10) started and got the win for the Wildcats.
A two-run home run by freshman Abbey Cheek keyed Kentucky offensively.
But in Game 2, the Utes never trailed, scoring three runs in the top of the fifth to lead 3-0, and then holding on.
Kentucky got as close as 4-3 in the sixth inning, and had the bases loaded and two outs, before Viramontes — this time in a relief role — struck out UK senior pitcher Kelsey Nunley on a 2-2 count.
The Utes added an insurance run in the top of the seventh, making a winner of sophomore ace Katie Donovan, who improved to 20-10 on the season.
So now Utah is off to Super Regional play in Tallahassee, Fla., to take on the Florida State Seminoles in a best-of-three series starting Thursday or Friday.
The winner there moves on to the College World Series in Oklahoma City June 2-8.
"We've been building something since I got here with these coaches," said Hogue, who's in her ninth year at Utah. "The last nine years have been a grind. Each year, though, we've gotten better, and the next step was supers.
"It takes a long time, but I feel like we're established now, and the sky's the limit."
"In our minds, we're two games away from going to the World Series," said Utah junior shortstop Anissa Urtez. "If we could make the top 16, we can do anything."
Utah advanced to Sunday's finals with a 3-0 win over Kentucky in Saturday afternoon's winners' bracket final.
That forced the Wildcats to play a late game Saturday — a 3-2 win over Illinois in eight innings — on a day that started for the Wildcats with the final six innings of a 6-1, rain-delayed win over Butler.
Urtez said the Utes were confident going into the second game Sunday.
"We knew we had seen two of their best pitchers," said Urtez, who had two RBI in the nightcap, following a two-run homer the day before. "We knew what we had to adjust to, and knew that we just had to rally them because that's all we could do."
The second game was tense and tight through four innings. But in the Utah fifth, the Utes broke out.
Junior center fielder Delilah Pacheco reached on a two-out infield single; junior left fielder Kay Kay Fronda lined a single to left; junior second baseman Hannah Flippen singled in Pacheco for the game's first run, and then Urtez drove in Fronda and Flippen with another single.
Utah scored what proved to be the game winner in the sixth after freshman designated player Hailey Hilburn led off with a double.
Junior Sammy Cordova came in as a pinch runner and scored the Utes' fourth run when sophomore right fielder Heather Bowen grounded to UK first baseman Maisie Steed, and Steed's throw home was too late to get Cordova.
Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson didn't make any excuses afterward, saying simple that "Utah played great."
"They've really done a lot with their program over the last couple years, and to go on to super regionals is awesome," Lawson said. "It's special, and they did a great job.
"I thought today was a great day for softball," Lawson added. "Both teams played really hard. Both had their backs to the wall several times, and it was back and fourth both games. It was an awesome softball to watch."