Senior Taylor Khorrami’s game-winning, two-out RBI single in the 12th inning kept Western Washington University’s season alive with a 2-1 marathon victory over the University of Indianapolis on Wednesday, May 22 at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood, Florida.
No. 6-seeded Western (51-10) forced a second game in the NCAA Division II World Series semifinal matchup and handed No. 4 Indianapolis (60-6) its first loss of the tournament. A win in game two would send the Vikings to the best-of-three national championship series May 24–25.
The second game was slated to begin at 1 p.m. PST but will likely be delayed due to the three-hour run time of game one.
“What a battle. Hats off to [Indianapolis]. That was probably the hardest game we played all year,” Western head coach Sheryl Gilmore said. “Great pitcher, great team, really proud of our team for the way they fought and just continued — no matter what happened in the game — continued to fight.”
Western freshman pitcher Kaiana Kong navigated the Vikings out of three extra-inning, bases-loaded situations that threatened to end their season in the first game of the semifinals.
The Greyhounds left nine runners on base in just the eighth through 12th innings — with 14 total in the game.
The game included nine scoreless innings and tied the Vikings’ longest game of the season (3-2 win over Concordia Irvine on Feb. 4). Western scored its first run of the game in the top of the first, and Indianapolis tied it in the bottom of the third.
It was a pitcher’s duel from there, first between Vikings freshman Alli Kimball and Indianapolis senior Kenzee Smith — who leads the nation this season with a .34 earned run average (ERA). Kimball pitched 7.1 innings before Kong threw with final 4.2 leading to the win.
“It starts with our pitchers. Our pitchers have kept us in games all year long. They always give us a chance to win,” Gilmore said. “They’re made for the pressure cooker. They get better in those moments.”
Khorrami’s RBI was the first earned run Smith allowed since May 5 in a 3-2 loss to Missouri University of Science and Technology. Smith threw 166 pitches in 12 innings, allowing a season-high eight hits (three in the 12th inning alone), one earned run and no walks while striking out eight.
Western didn’t get a runner beyond first base from the second through 11th innings. They finally broke through, and it was just enough to squeeze the game-winning run across.
“Every game, I’m just not ready for it to be my last,” Khorrami said, “so I just wanted to go up there and pick up the people in front of me, and just do my job and then go back on defense and shut it down for our amazing two freshman pitchers.”
Kimball allowed four hits, no earned runs and three walks while striking out seven for Western. She was relieved a third of the way through the eighth inning after Indianapolis’ batters began to find her pitches and loaded the bases.
Kong, all in extra innings, allowed just two hits, no runs and four walks while striking out three. Two of those strikeouts were the second or third out while trying to avoid a game-winning Indianapolis run with the bases loaded.
Connor J. Benintendi is a former CDN sports reporter, send tips and information to newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
