OKLAHOMA CITY — Tennessee shortstop Liane Horiuchi knew what was coming, and the sophomore from Hawai'i thought she'd made a play to save the game.

Umpire Jerry Bark saw it differently, however, calling Arizona pinch-runner Danielle Rodriguez safe at the plate in the Wildcats' 1-0 victory over the Lady Vols at the Women's College World Series yesterday.

Arizona (49-14-1) tied the best-of-three championship series with Tennessee (63-7), forcing a decisive third game today, starting at 2 p.m. Hawai'i time on ESPN2.

The controversial play — on which replays appeared inconclusive — unfolded with one out and runners on first and third in the top of the 10th inning when the Wildcats' Adrienne Acton grounded to a drawn-in Horiuchi.

Horiuchi fielded the ball cleanly and fired a strike to catcher Shannon Doepking, who attempted a sweep tag as Rodriguez dived head first, left arm extended in an effort to touch the back of the plate.

"Acton was putting the ball in play on the left side the whole game, and (third baseman Jennifer Griffin) and I had talked and knew it was coming to us,'' said Horiuchi, a 2005 Kamehameha Schools graduate. "Maybe I could have thrown it harder, but I'd felt I'd done a great job on it.''

Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott (50-4), who allowed four hits while striking out 11 to increase her World Series total to 68, couldn't have agreed more.

"I was trying to either, A, strike (Acton) out, or have her hit a ball to the infield,'' said Abbott, who has yet to allow an earned run through 38 innings in the World Series. "There's no one better than Liane to make that play.''

Arizona's Sam Banister singled to start the inning and moved to second on Sarah Akamine's bunt. Rodriguez, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, came in to run for Banister.

The Wildcats continued their small-ball attack when Callista Balko bunted to Griffin, who fired to first. Second baseman Kenora Posey, covering first, dropped the throw, which would have been the second out of the inning.

That brought up Acton, who delivered the fielder's choice grounder that scored Rodriguez.

"Luckily I have long fingers," said Rodriguez, holding up her left hand.

Arizona's Caitlin Lowe, who was in the on-deck circle, said it was a close play.

"I still kind of had to look at the umpire because I wasn't really sure what he was going to call," Lowe said. "I knew she had definitely had a chance, and I saw her hand sneak in."

Doepking came away with a different impression of the play.

"When she came, I thought I had her. The umpire saw something different," Doepking said. "No matter what, that's not what lost the game. We couldn't bring a run across when we had runners in scoring position."

The Lady Vols stranded 14 runners — they had a runner reach second in five innings — against Arizona ace Taryne Mowatt (41-12).

"We certainly had our opportunities tonight and couldn't capitalize when we needed to," Tennessee co-coach Karen Weekly said.

Mowatt, who has thrown a World Series-record seven complete games in six days, most notably escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the fifth against the 2-3-4 hitters in Tennessee's lineup.

Arizona's defense played a large role in the inning, as Mowatt fielded a shot back up the middle for a force at home for the first out, second baseman Chelsie Mesa made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch in shallow right for the second out and shortstop Kristie Fox snared a hard shot in the hole to end the inning.

"I just kind of had to stay calm and not get too worked up about it that there's no outs, bases loaded and probably their three best hitters up to bat," said Mowatt, who matched Abbott with 11 strikeouts.

"I hit my spots. I thought I jammed the last two batters pretty good and Chelsie and Foxy got really good jumps on those balls behind them and were able to catch them. It was a pretty exciting inning."

The Lady Vols' Alexia Clay reached base with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Campbell High graduate Anita Manuma struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance and Horiuchi grounded to second to end the game.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.