Callista Balko of the Wildcats can't help smiling as she approaches the plate after hitting a home run in the third inning against Illinois-Chicago. The UA won that game 18-3.

david sanders / arizona daily star

Other articles by Jamie M. Blanchard:

Salpointe takes 3 straight versus Mountain View Dedication of a Warrior UA mistakes help Ducks win their 2nd in Pac-10 Nighthawks' Chapman finds homer stroke against Rincon Relay champs on roll with lucky baton, record, title Creighton turns back Cats in 2nd game Badgers' Okonkwo hoping to end her stint on sidelines after injury Young Wildcats find focus, win first 2 at home Foothills, with new coach, wants 3rd title in a row Wildcats' home finale fizzles out with loss to Washington State

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The UA softball team needed a few extra innings against Virginia Tech.

But performance under pressure is a reason the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats (10-4) are two-time national champions.

With two outs in the 12th, Brittany Lastrapes singled up the middle to bring home the winning run in a 4-3 win over No. 24 Virginia Tech.

"I was really nervous, and then when I got two strikes, I was terrified. But I wanted to put the ball in play, because I had struck out before," Lastrapes said. "I wanted to help my team out, and help (pitcher) Taryne (Mowatt) out, because she didn't need to be out there anymore."

Arizona opened its second day of home action at the Hillenbrand Invitational with an 18-3 mercy-rule victory over Illinois-Chicago. Five Wildcats combined for six homers — one short of the school-record.

Mowatt struck out 20 in the nightcap, one less than Hokie standout Angela Tincher.

"I told the team that I thought this was the best two pitchers in the country," UA interim head coach Larry Ray said. "She was outstanding, but you have to give Taryne a lot of credit for hanging in there. They were putting the bat on the ball on her but she made it out without giving up much."

The Cats took a 3-0 lead over Virginia Tech in the first. Stacie Chambers' slow-rolling single down the first base line scored Sam Banister. Callista Balko then brought in two runs with a bloop single.

The Hokies cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth. With runners on first and second, Charisse Mariconda tripled.

"I was cruising along for a couple of innings until they made adjustments, like any good team does. It took me a couple of innings to adjust to their adjustments," Mowatt said. She allowed seven hits.

Arizona looked to extend its lead later in the fifth. After pinch runner Danielle Rodriguez reached third on a wild pitch, Jenae Leles was hit for the second time, and then stole second. Both were left stranded when Chambers struck out.

In the sixth, Mowatt nailed Caroline Stolle and later walked Whitney Davis. She walked Stolle in the seventh to allow an unearned run that sent it into extra innings.

"I was definitely frustrated with the hit batters," Mowatt said. "They were definitely batters that you don't want to hit, because I don't want to say that they're easy outs — no one is an easy out — but there's other people in the lineup that could do more damage."

Action continues today with the final three games. After 9 and 11 a.m. games, the Cats face New Mexico State at 1 p.m.