Devyn Netz had the game-winning two-run single in the bottom of the fifth and pitched 5.1 innings as Arizona rallied from a three-run deficit for a 4-3 win over Central Florida in the Big XII Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
Netz had two hits in three at-bats with the two runs batted in at the plate and pitched 5.1 innings in relief, allowing one earned run on three hits with one strikeout to improve to 21-5. Miranda Stoddard pitched the first 1.1 innings for Arizona and allowed two earned runs on three hits.
Beth Damon opened the scoring for Central Florida with an RBI single in the second inning. Central Florida extended their lead to 2-0 on a fielder's choice later in the second inning. Leadoff hitter Aubrey Evans started the third inning with a home run on an 0-2 pitch to extend the UCF lead to 3-0.
Arizona began its comeback in the fourth inning. After Jenna Shockey tripled, she scored on an error by UCF first baseman Ashleigh Griffin with Sydney Stewart batting. Isabella Vega got Netz to fly out to left field and struck out Kaiah Altmeyer and Stoddard to end the fourth.
Dakota Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth with one out to get Arizona within 3-2. Three batters after Kennedy, Netz singled to right field with the bases loaded to score Shockey and Kiki Escobar to put Arizona ahead to stay. Netz retired UCF in order in the sixth to maintain the lead.
With one out in the seventh, Stewart threw out pinch runner Alexis Morgan trying to steal. Morgan was the second runner Stewart threw out attempting to steal on Thursday. Samantha Rey grounded out from Arizona shortstop Tayler Biehl to first to end the game.
Arizona plays the winner of the quarterfinal between third-seed Iowa State and sixth-seeded BYU in the semifinal that will begin on Friday at 3:30 PM Mountain Standard Time. The Big XII Championship Game is Saturday at 9:00 AM MST on ESPN.