Lawrie tosses 4th career no-hitter

Apr 30, 2009, 12:00 AM

Danielle Lawrie had just finished disassembling UCLA's lineup, finally getting the best of Bruins' ace Megan Langenfeld by tossing the fourth no-hitter of her career in a 3-0 Washington win yesterday at Husky Softball Stadium. As she stood near the dugout, ice pack wrapped on her shoulder, Lawrie displayed the same killer instinct that allowed her to help the Huskies avoid a sweep against the Bruins and stay undefeated at home. "I'm going in there, and I'm going, 'I am not losing to you again,'" Lawrie said. "That is not going to happen. It doesn't matter if we have to go five, seven, however many innings. I was just not going to let it happen. Not on our home turf, anyway." She did it in a big way, allowing just two base runners - a walk and a hit batter - while striking out eight to move the Huskies within a game of UCLA in the Pac-10 standings. But it wasn't until the fifth inning that Washington finally reversed its pitcher's-duel fortunes, breaking a pattern that had seen plenty of extra-inning games end in frustration for the UW - including the last time Lawrie threw against UCLA, when she went toe-to-toe with Langenfeld for 11 innings before dropping a 2-0 decision in Los Angeles. Langenfeld also tossed a no-hitter against the Huskies in that same series, holding them hitless in a 10-0, five-inning UCLA win. Kimi Pohlman made sure this game wouldn't meet the same fate. With runners on second and third and two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Langenfeld intentionally walked UW shortstop Ashley Charters to get to Pohlman. And on a 1-2 pitch, Pohlman ripped a line drive through the left side of the infield that went all the way to the fence, emptying the bases and giving the Huskies (36-9, 9-6 Pac-10) the only offense they would need. "I was excited when they walked her," Lawrie said. "I was like, OK, you don't know what this freshman has." It wasn't the first time an opposing team has walked Charters, an All-American, to get to Pohlman. And maybe they shouldn't: Pohlman is second on the team with a .373 batting average. "They don't really think about it," Pohlman said. "They just think to walk the senior to get to the freshman." Other than Pohlman's double, the Huskies again had trouble with Langenfeld. She allowed just one hit before that inning and continued to keep Washington off balance with crafty location and by letting UW batters put the ball in play. But the way Lawrie was throwing, it didn't matter. She was even more impressive than she was while no-hitting Arizona earlier this season, and UCLA simply never had a chance. "I think the biggest thing was that [UW catcher] Alicia [Blake] and I were on the same page because this past weekend there was a lot of cross-ups," Lawrie said. "I had crossed her up quite a bit. And today, I felt like I rarely shook her off, and that's huge when you feel like you're confident with her." UCLA (35-9, 10-5 Pac-10) moved only one runner to second base, when Langenfeld was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning and moved to second on a ground-out. But Lawrie settled down to retire the side with a ground-out to short, putting the finishing touches on another no-hitter. It was, for once, more than Langenfeld, who lost for the first time this season, could manage. "We wanted to play our game and not her game," Pohlman said. "And that's what we did. I think it worked pretty well for us." Reach sports editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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