TALLAHASSEE - For a third consecutive season, South Florida won its NCAA Tournament opener, 2-0 Thursday over Ohio State at the Tallahassee Region.
After going scoreless for five innings, the third-seeded Bulls (58-12) used a pair of Ohio State errors and two timely hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to advance to today's 12:30 winners bracket game against No. 2 seed Oregon, which defeated Bethune-Cookman 1-0.
Host Florida State and Cal State-Northridge also advanced while Florida dropped into the losers bracket. Carmela Liwag drove in Shelly Riker with a single to score the first USF run. Tiffany Stewart, who had two of USF's four hits, drove in Holly Groves with a double down the leftfield line to cap the sixth inning.
Senior Leigh Ann Ellis (41-6) surrendered just one hit, but got in and then out of a self-inflicted jam in the fourth. Ellis walked the Buckeyes' leadoff batter and committed consecutive errors on ground balls to load the bases with no outs. But she remained composed and retired the next three batters with two of her eight strikeouts and a foul out.
"I made a lot of mistakes in the game and luckily they didn't capitalize on very many of them," Ellis said.
CAL ST.-NORTHRIDGE 2, UF 1: Junior Mandy Schuerman did her best to help the No. 4-seeded Gators overtake the fifth-seeded Matadors.
Her home run to leftfield in the bottom of the fifth tied the score at 1. After Northridge slugger Christen Bedwell hit the eventual game-deciding homer in the sixth inning and Kia Fennel followed with a single, Schuerman made an acrobatic catch and caught Fennell at first for an unassisted double play.
Schuerman also led off the seventh with a single, but the Gators were unable to close the deficit.
"She was the show today, for sure," UF coach Karen Johns said.
Despite the loss, Johns also was pleased with pitcher Stacey Stevens (14-10), who gave up six hits and had eight strikeouts. Stevens struggled at the end of the season.
The Gators (40-19) play Long Island University in the losers bracket at 10 a.m. today.
FSU 4, LIU 0: Casey Hunter recorded her fourth no-hitter of the season as top-seeded Florida State advanced to play Cal State-Northridge at 3 p.m. today.
"The first game of any tournament is the one you worry about the most," FSU coach JoAnne Graf said. "We were favored, they were not. I didn't want our team to take them lackadaisically."
The Seminoles (58-9) lost their first two games as a No. 2 seed last year in Gainesville.
ACC rookie of the year Veronica Wootson had three hits, including a triple, and scored FSU's first three runs against LIU (27-27).
Bethune-Cookman (44-27) and Ohio State (34-24) played late in the first losers bracket game.
STRIKEOUT RECORD: Cristin Vitek set an NCAA record with 28 strikeouts in 16 innings as Baylor beat North Carolina 1-0 in a regional at Waco, Texas. She had a no-hitter through 101/3 innings.
LINCOLN REGION: Florida Atlantic lost to Creighton 6-2 in the opening round in Nebraska.
Basketball
SOUTH FLORIDA: The women's team signed its second player of the late signing period and fourth overall for 2004, 6-foot-2 center Tamara Dowdell of Pahokee. Dowdell, whose brother Zabian plays for Virginia Tech, averaged 20 points, 15 rebounds, and six blocks in earning first-team Class 3A all-state honors as a senior. Also, women's assistant Tamara Jones resigned to pursue her master's degree at Washington State, where her boyfriend, Ron Sanchez, is director of basketball operations. There also is an opening for director of women's basketball operations since Amy Wright replaced Jan Bennett as an assistant coach.
UAB: Coach Mike Anderson, who led Alabama-Birmingham to an NCAA Tournament upset of Kentucky, received a new five-year contract worth up to $775,000 annually.
Football
NCAA SUED: A former Washington player filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in Seattle, claiming the NCAA is violating antitrust laws by limiting the number of scholarships that can be awarded. Andy Carroll, a wide receiver and special-teams player who graduated in 2000, claims he was led to believe he had a chance at receiving a scholarship when he was a walk-on but was later told none was available. Besides ending the restriction, the suit seeks money for walk-ons it contends were harmed by the policy. A spokesman said the NCAA had no comment.
VILLAGES CLASSIC: The seventh annual Villages Gridiron Classic, an all-star game for potential NFL players, has been set for Jan. 15 at the retirement community 50 miles northwest of Orlando. The 11 a.m. game will be telecast on ESPN2.
Elsewhere
GOLF: Camilo Villegas fired a 2-under 68 to lead Florida to a one-shot lead over Georgia after the first round at the NCAA East Region Championships in New Haven, Conn. The Gators shot 6-over 286.
BASEBALL: Central Connecticut State senior infielder Keith Stegbauer of Seminole was named Northeast Conference player of the year. He batted .436 with a school- and league-record 95 hits and 76 runs scored in the regular season. ... Stephen Drew hit for the cycle as Florida State beat host Wake Forest 11-10.
MISSISSIPPI STATE: The state College Board approved a one-year contract extension for athletic director Larry Templeton. The school has admitted to secondary rules violations in football.
AWARD: Chanda Gunn, the Northeastern All-America goalie who nearly died of epilepsy, won the Honda Inspiration Award.
- Times staff writer Pete Young contributed to this report, which used information from Times wires.
