OKLAHOMA CITY -- Alicia Hollowell promised Arizona coach Mike Candrea she'd win him a national title, then dreamed about it with each trip to the Women's College World Series.

Hollowell has the physical gifts and mental toughness of a champion. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

When she finally fulfilled that promise, she couldn't help but jump for joy.

"It was just pure excitement, just knowing it was over and we had done it and my dream had finally come true," Hollowell said after leading Arizona to its seventh NCAA title Tuesday night.

Hollowell threw her third consecutive shutout and set the WCWS record for strikeouts in a 5-0 win over Northwestern that gave Arizona the championship with a two-game sweep.

"I've had dreams of celebrating for four years, since I came to Arizona," Hollowell said. "Every World Series we came into, I had dreams of winning the last game. It never came true until tonight."

Caitlin Lowe had two hits and scored twice, and Autumn Champion and Callista Balko drove in two runs apiece to give Arizona (54-11) plenty of support for Hollowell (32-5). She struck out 13 to pass UCLA's Debbie Doom for the most strikeouts in a Women's College World Series. She finished with 64 in six games, two more than Doom had in 1982.

"They made pitching so easy for me, just putting up runs early and putting them up in masses. It made it so easy for me," Hollowell said. "I know I got a lot of attention but all the credit is due to them."

Lowe and Champion led off the first with back-to-back singles and each moved up a base on Kristie Fox's bunt. Lowe then came home on Balko's grounder to second.

Lowe, Arizona's leadoff hitter, sparked a rally in the fifth when she singled and moved to second on second baseman Ashley Crane's throwing error. Lowe advanced to third on a wild pitch by Eileen Canney (26-9) that ticked off the top of catcher Jamie Dotson's glove and careened to the backstop, then came home on Champion's line single into center.

Balko followed with a double that Northwestern right fielder Erin Dyer couldn't field cleanly, and Champion raced around from first to make it 3-0.

Arizona scored two more runs in the sixth when Lowe reached on a bases-loaded error and Champion smacked her second RBI single.

It's Arizona's first title since 2001 and its second since 1997, when it won the last of five in a seven-year span.

With the win, Hollowell cemented a spot among Arizona's elite pitchers. Already the school's leader in wins (144), strikeouts (1,768) and no-hitters (17), Hollowell had only one more goal to accomplish -- win a national title.

"This is the one thing. I came to Arizona to win a national championship," Hollowell said.

Debby Day (1991), Susie Parra (1993-94), Carrie Dolan (1996), Nancy Evans (1997) and Jennie Finch (2001) had already led Arizona to national titles, and all but Day have had their numbers retired.

Hollowell ends her career third on the NCAA's all-time wins and strikeouts list.

"Does she need it to be great in Arizona history? Probably not. But for her sake, I think her career would have been a little bit empty without it," Candrea said.

Hollowell, who'd given up only one hit in two previous games against Northwestern this season, had to fight out of trouble early.

Northwestern (50-15) got singles from Kristen Amegin and Dyer in the second inning before Hollowell struck out Crane to end the threat.

Hollowell again got away unscathed after Darcy Sengewald, Katie Logan and Tammy Williams had consecutive singles to start the third inning for Northwestern. Garland Cooper struck out looking, Dotson popped out to third and Amegin flied out to left to get Hollowell off the hook. She pitched around Logan's one-out double in the fifth by striking out Williams and Dotson.

"What that shows is that she's tough. She's tough and when she needed to bear down, she did," said Evans, who's now an Arizona assistant coach. "She's smart. A great pitcher is defined by adversity and she rose to the task and prevailed in adversity. And that's one of the many reasons why she's great."

Hollowell gave up three straight two-out singles in the seventh but then got Dotson, Northwestern's cleanup hitter, to strike out on a full count before leaping into the air, dropping her glove and igniting Arizona's celebration.

"I think Arizona got the big outs tonight, and I think it started with Hollowell," Northwestern coach Kate Drohan said.

Arizona's seven NCAA titles are second to UCLA's 10, and no team has won more championships since Candrea took over in 1991. The coach of the U.S. national team, Candrea also won a gold medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Since 1991, every senior class at Arizona except last year's team left with at least one national title.

"There's a standard at Arizona," Hollowell said. "There should never be a class that goes without winning a national title."