Dejah Mulipola completed her decorated Arizona softball career in June with a trip to the Women’s College World Series. Fast forward a month and she’s already reaching new heights.
Mulipola made her Olympic debut on Saturday, reaching base twice and catching a gem from the legendary Cat Osterman as Team USA beat Mexico 2-0 at Yokohama Stadium.
Osterman only allowed one hit in six innings before another softball legend, Monica Abbott, recorded the save with a scoreless seventh.
Mulipola singled in the seventh and led off the third by drawing a walk against former ASU ace Dallas Escobedo. Amanda Chidester pinch ran for Mulipola and scored the go-ahead run when former Washington Husky Ali Aguilar roped a two-out, two-run single into right center.
Former Arizona ace Danielle O’Toole surrendered the hit but the runs were charged to Escobedo. O’Toole had entered with runners on first and second with no outs and nearly escaped the jam.
.@USASoftball is on the board with a 2-0 lead! #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/gTvqtuDWGr
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 24, 2021
O’Toole lasted until the sixth when Sierra Hyland relieved her with two outs and runners on the corners. Both runners had reached on errors. Hyland got Kelsey Stewart to fly out to center to end the frame.
O’Toole finished with a line of 3.2 innings, two hits, one walk, and two strikeouts. She has only allowed two earned runs in 11 innings at the Olympics. That includes 7.1 strong innings against Japan, the No. 2 team in the world.
Mexico is 0-3 so far. Team USA is 3-0 with three shutouts, tied with Japan for the best record.