Washington softball routs No. 22 Arizona behind massive power surge

The Washington Huskies hit 5 home runs and had no trouble with the No. 22 Wildcats on Friday night.

A three-run first inning is usually a fairly good sign on how the rest of a game will turn out and it was just that on Friday for coach Heather Tarr and the No. 7 Washington Huskies, who took down the No. 22 Arizona Wildcats 13-2 in six innings.

Graduate transfer Jillian Celis turned in a masterful performance at the plate, going 3 for 3 with 5 runs batted in and 4 runs scored. Her three hits all went for extra bases, with a first inning double to open the scoring and a home run in both the fifth and sixth innings.

While Celis was arguably the biggest star of the day, she shared the spotlight with outfielder Alana Johnson, who also hit 2 home runs. In the fifth inning, Celis and Johnson went back to back to stretch the lead and then in the sixth, they hit three straight home runs along with junior Kinsey Fiedler to make the score 13-1.

Johnson went 4 for 4 on the day with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored.

Outside of the offensive explosion, Tarr’s team also saw a bounce-back performance from Ruby Meylan in the circle. The sophomore threw a complete game, earning her eighth win of the season, allowing 5 hits, four walks, and 2 earned runs against 10 strikeouts after struggling last Sunday against Arizona State.

The Huskies moved to 19-3 with the victory, and take the diamond again on Saturday at 4:00 for their second of three matchups with the Wildcats, who fell to 19-6-1 with the loss.