Los Angeles Times

Sooners say later to Bruins in a rout

UCLA stuns No. 1 Oklahoma in first game but is pummeled, ousted in second semifinal

- By Thuc Nhi Nguyen

OKLAHOMA CITY — UCLA delayed but couldn’t deny the inevitable. As expected, Oklahoma will play for its second consecutiv­e national championsh­ip.

No. 5 UCLA stunned the topranked Sooners in the first game of the Women’s College World Series semifinals Monday with a 7-3 win at

USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, but Oklahoma snapped back into form with a 15-0, five-inning victory in the winner-takes-all Game 2.

The Sooners will face Texas, which swept two from Oklahoma State, for the title. UCLA’s excitement of extending its season dissipated when Oklahoma scored six runs in the first two innings of Game 2. Sooners fans 20 miles away from the school’s Norman campus chanted “We’re not done yet” as Oklahoma strung five singles and a walk in the fifth inning. They burst into cheers after a grand slam from Jocelyn Alo pushed the lead to 15, the second-most runs ever allowed by UCLA.

Watching the painful end to their otherwise

successful season, the Bruins (51-10) remained true to their fun-loving nature. They continued to encourage pitcher Lauren Shaw. They stole short moments to dance. And before walking off the field, they joined their fans — a blue island in a sea of crimson and cream — for a final eight-clap, their last word on the sport’s biggest annual stage.

“It just kind of shows that we were a force to be reckoned with the whole time,” said center fielder Maya Brady, who hit two home runs during the first game. “That maybe we didn’t get the respect that we deserved, and I think that for us to come out and throw a punch against a team like that just shows that UCLA softball is still in the running and still deserves to be talked about.”

Just pushing the defending champions to an eliminatio­n game could be seen as an impressive feat for the Bruins. It was Oklahoma’s second loss by four or more runs in the last two seasons. The Sooners (57-3) responded with their 40th run-rule victory of the season and handed UCLA its largest margin of defeat in school history.

Oklahoma showed why it could be having the sport’s best season. Not only does it have nearly the same offensive numbers as last year’s record-setting team that won the national championsh­ip, but the Sooners also boast the nation’s best earned-run average.

As Alo increased her NCAA-best home run mark to 120 Monday with two homers in Game 2, pitcher Hope Trautwein, a transfer from North Texas, shut down the Bruins in Game 2 in a two-hit, six-strikeout performanc­e.

Saving their ace in case of a Game 2, Oklahoma offered sophomore Nicole May and freshman Jordy Bahl in the first game. The Bruins jumped on the young pitchers with three homers to force the decisive rematch played 30 minutes later.

“We made a statement in the first game,” said third baseman Delanie Wisz, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning to announce UCLA’s arrival in the semifinal. “And that’s what we came here to do: to make a statement.”

Wisz and Brady, who each drove in a career-high five runs, led the offense while Megan Faraimo and Holly Azevedo kept the high-powered Sooners off balance. The pitchers limited the team that entered Monday’s semifinal with an NCAA-leading 9.22 runs per game to three in Game 1.

The Sooners matched that in the first inning of Game 2.

After Azevedo pitched three innings of hitless relief in Game 1, she gave up a leadoff walk to Jayda Coleman, a double to Alo and watched a misplaced fastball soar over the fence off Tiare Jennings’ bat before UCLA recorded an out in Game 2.

Oklahoma lit up the scoreboard with an eightrun fifth inning, activating the eight-run mercy rule. Despite the lopsided score, the Bruins were upbeat.

“We don’t quit,” coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “That’s the DNA of UCLA softball.”

 ?? Alonzo Adams Associated Press ?? UCLA’S Kinsley Washington grimaces as Oklahoma’s Rylie Boone beats a throw to first base off a bunt.
Alonzo Adams Associated Press UCLA’S Kinsley Washington grimaces as Oklahoma’s Rylie Boone beats a throw to first base off a bunt.
 ?? Alonzo Adams Associated Press ?? BRUINS watch from their dugout during the fifth inning as UCLA is routed by No. 1 Oklahoma in the Women’s College World Series semifinal eliminatio­n game.
Alonzo Adams Associated Press BRUINS watch from their dugout during the fifth inning as UCLA is routed by No. 1 Oklahoma in the Women’s College World Series semifinal eliminatio­n game.

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