NORMAN, Okla. – (3) Omaha softball came up just short in its NCAA Championship opener Friday afternoon, dropping a 1-0 decision to (2) California at Love's Field to start the Norman Regional, hosted by (1) Oklahoma.

Omaha (39-12) – making its third straight NCAA tournament appearance – now faces an elimination game against either Oklahoma (45-7) or (4) Boston University (39-17) on Saturday, May 17 at 3:30 p.m. CT. The Sooners and Terriers square off in game two of the regional Friday evening in Norman.

A win against the Oklahoma-BU loser would send the Mavericks to a second elimination game Saturday at 6 p.m. CT against the loser of Saturday's 1 p.m. CT winner's bracket matchup between Cal (36-19) and the Oklahoma-BU winner.

On Friday afternoon, Cal got its lone run against the Mavericks in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Elon Butler doubled with one out and came home on a two-out infield single by Tianna Bell. Golden Bears starter Annabel Teperson (6-4) made it stand up from there, throwing a two-hit shutout with four strikeouts and a walk.

Despite being shut out for only the fifth time in 51 games this season, the Mavericks had chances to get on the scoreboard. In the top of the second, Katherine Johnson doubled to lead off the inning and a walk by Ava Rongisch put runners on first and second with one out. However, a groundout and strikeout ended the Omaha threat.

In the fifth, Haley Wilwerding and Sammy Schmidt reached on back-to-back errors by Cal to put runners on first and second with one out. But just like the second inning, a strikeout and groundout ended the inning and kept the Mavericks off the scoreboard.

The Mavericks' last baserunner of the game came in the sixth, when Rylinn Groff led off the inning with a single, but three straight outs failed to move Groff and Omaha fell into Saturday's first elimination game.

Maddia Groff (26-6) threw her 19th complete game of the season in taking the loss, allowing one run on four hits with five strikeouts and a walk in six innings.
 
Stay tuned for broadcast information for Saturday's game(s).

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