Arizona captures Game 1 of finals

Alicia Hollowell pitched a one-hitter in an 8-0 win over Northwestern.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Taryne Mowatt homered and drove in three runs and Alicia Hollowell threw a one-hitter as Arizona beat Northwestern 8-0 Monday night to win Game 1 of the Women's College World Series championship.
Hollowell (31-5) struck out 12 and Arizona (53-11) took advantage of two errors by Northwestern (50-14) to score five runs in the third inning and break open the game.
Game 2 tonight
Game 2 in the best-of-three series is tonight.
Adrienne Acton reached on an infield single to start the third inning and moved to third base when Caitlin Lowe hit a chopper to short that Tammy Williams fielded before throwing the ball in the dirt wide of first base. Lowe then stole second uncontested as Acton bluffed off third, and Northwestern coach Kate Drohan replaced starter Eileen Canney (26-8) with Courtnay Foster.
Autumn Champion grounded to second base and Acton swept her left hand across the tip of home plate before Northwestern catcher Jamie Dotson could take Ashley Crane's throw and whirl for a tag.
Williams and Crane then collided as they went to field Kristie Fox's pop fly to the edge of the left field grass. As the ball fell to the ground. Lowe raced home to make it 2-0. Callista Balko followed with a bloop single to left field to bring in Champion, and Mowatt clubbed a two-run double off the wall in left-center field to make it 5-0.
A throwing error by Northwestern's Darcy Sengewald helped Lowe advance to third before scoring on a Fox sacrifice fly in the fourth. Chelsie Lowe and Mowatt added back-to-back solo homers in the seventh.
Spoils no-hit bid
Dotson broke up Hollowell's perfect game bid with a grounder into left to lead off the fifth inning.
The margin of victory matched the biggest blowout in the championship round. Arizona beat UCLA 10-2 in the 1997 title game. This is the second year of the best-of-three championship format.
Northwestern is playing for the championship for the first time, while Arizona is seeking its seventh title -- all since 1991 under coach Mike Candrea, who also led the U.S. to the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.
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