Box Score

SALEM, Ore. -- Georgia College and State University pitcher Jennifer Joiner had been all of the talk here in Salem, but it was UC Davis' Amy Rosson who dominated the game as UC Davis moved to championship play with a 4-1 victory over the Bobcats at the 2003 NCAA Division II Softball Championships.

Rosson stretched her hitless streak to 10 1/3 innings before GC&SU struck for a hit with two outs in the sixth inning. She struck out 12 batters and only issued two walks to pick up her 28th victory of the season.

"I just pitched as hard as I could," said Rosson, whose team is looking for its first softball national championship in its last year as a Division II school.

UC Davis got to Joiner early, when Michelle Malbon drove a pitch to deep center field with two outs in the second. Then in the sixth, Malbon hit a two run shot to give the Aggies a 4-0 lead.

The Bobcats got an RBI single from Diana Baruffa in the sixth, then had runners on first and second with no outs in the seventh before Rosson struck out the side to end the game.

"We pressed offesnsively, but we can do better," said GC&SU head coach Wendy Thees. "We were just trying to do too much at the plate. We have to be able to score more than one run to beat a team like UC Davis."

UC Davis will face defending national champion St. Mary's Sunday at noon in what will be an elimination game for the Rattlers. If UC Davis wins, they will play a championship series, in which they must win oncee or lose twice, against the winner of the North Dakota State-GC&SU tilt.

If St. Mary's wins, they will advance to play the winner of the 2:30 NDSU-GC&SU game while UC Davis will await that winner for a single Monday championship game.

"It's still one game at a time for us," UC Davis head coach Kathy DeYoung said. "It's a definite advantage to be where we are but we have to be able to keep it going."

SUNDAY'S GAMES

Noon PDT: UC Davis vs. St. Marys (St. Mary's is eliminated with loss)

2:30 PDT: GC&SU vs. North Dakota State (loser eliminated)

6:00 PDT: UC Davis/St. Mary's winner vs. GC&SU/NDSU winner