Brady hits two homers as UCLA stuns No. 1 Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Maya Brady hit two home runs, and No. 5 seed UCLA defeated No. 1 Oklahoma 7-3 in a Women’s College World Series semifinal on Monday.
Because Oklahoma (56-3) was previously unbeaten in the double-elimination format and UCLA had a loss, the Bruins (51-9) need to beat the Sooners twice to qualify for the best-ofthree championship series. The teams will play again Monday afternoon to decide which team will advance.
Brady is the niece of seventime Super Bowl winner Tom Brady. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback tweeted his reaction.
Megan Faraimo (24-5) got the win and Holly Azevedo had three innings of hitless relief for the save.
Nicole May (15-1) allowed five runs in 2 1/3 innings for the defending national champion Sooners.
UCLA’s Delanie Wisz hit a two-run homer in the top of the first. The Bruins nearly got more, but left two on as May escaped further damage in a 36-pitch inning.
Jayda Coleman led off the Sooners half of the inning with a homer.
Brady’s three-run blast in the third put UCLA up 5-1, and Oklahoma’s Jordy Bahl, who had missed most of the past month with an arm injury, stepped in to replace May.
Bahl — The NFCA Freshman of the Year — slowed UCLA’s offense enough to allow Oklahoma to rally. Grace Lyons’ tworun homer in the fourth cut the Bruins’ lead to 5-3.
Azevedo replaced Faraimo in the fifth inning. Coleman walked to bring up Jocelyn Alo with two outs. But Azevedo struck out Alo — the two-time reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year — to escape the inning.
Brady’s two-run shot in the seventh increased UCLA’s lead to 7-3.
Texas 5, Arizona 2
OKLAHOMA CITY — Unseeded Texas is four wins from a national title.
Estelle Czech allowed just one hit in 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, JJ Smith hit a three-run homer and the Longhorns defeated Arizona 5-2 on Sunday night to advance to the Women’s College World Series semifinals.
Czech (12-1), a sophomore, retired the first eight batters she faced in relief of ace Hailey Dolcini on her way to eliminating the Wildcats.
“Me and coach (Mike White) had a discussion before the game that my position today was to be the reliever and to pick up Hailey when I need it,” Czech said. “That’s what I tried to do. Hailey did her job, and I did mine.”
Smith, also a sophomore, fought through nerves to hit just her second home run of the season.
“This is my first time being in the World Series,” she said. “On deck, the first thing that ran through my mind is this is for the super seniors ... I was just doing it for my team, to be honest with you.”
Texas (45-20-1) will play Big 12 rival Oklahoma State — the No. 7 overall seed — in the semifinals Monday. Because it is a double-elimination tournament to decide who plays in the bestof-three championship series and Texas already has a loss, the Longhorns would need to win twice Monday to advance. Oklahoma State, undefeated in the World Series so far, would need just one win to move on.
Oklahoma State defeated Texas all four times they played this season, including a matchup in the Big 12 Tournament. But Texas had to win a regional at No. 13 Washington and a super regional at No. 4 Arkansas to qualify, so the Longhorns are used to beating the odds.
“We’re really gritty,” Smith said. “Over the course of the season, we’ve all gotten really close and understanding no matter what happens we’re still in the game. We’re not out of the game until it’s over.”
In the other semifinals matchup Monday, defending champion and No. 1 seed Oklahoma will face No. 5 UCLA, with UCLA needing to win twice and Oklahoma needing to win just once to advance.
With Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the semifinals, it’s the first time three Big 12 teams have reached the semifinals and the first time since the Southeastern Conference in 2015 that any conference has had three of the final four teams.
Texas’ Courtney Day hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third to open the scoring.
Carlie Scupin’s hard single down the right field line in the fourth knocked in Allie Skaggs and Amber Toven to give Arizona a 2-1 lead. Shortly after that, Czech replaced Dolcini with two runners on and struck out both batters she faced to escape.
Texas took the lead for good in its half of the fourth. Shortly after Devyn Netz replaced starter Hanah Bowen, Smith’s threerun blast gave Texas a 4-2 lead. Bowen (14-12) took the loss for Arizona.
UCLA 8, Florida 0
OKLAHOMA CITY — UCLA pitcher Holly Azevedo said her teammates created an “iced moment” by dumping water on her after Sunday’s victory.
She was pretty cool during the game, too. She threw a two-hit shutout and the fifth-seeded Bruins beat No. 14 Florida 8-0 in six innings Sunday to reach the Women’s College World Series semifinals and eliminate the Gators.
Azevedo (21-2) threw just 88 pitches, struck out two and walked one.
“I couldn’t do it without the people behind me,” she said. “Our defense was really, really on point today, and obviously we had a really good outing with offense.”
Kelli Godin, Maya Brady and Briana Perez each had two hits for the Bruins.
UCLA (50-9) will play No. 1 seed Oklahoma in the semifinals Monday and will have to beat the defending champion Sooners twice to reach the best-of-three championship series. The teams met in the championship series in 2019, with UCLA winning both games to claim the title. Oklahoma beat UCLA in an elimination game last year.