Oklahoma shuts out UCLA 1-0 and advances to WCWS national semifinals
By Chip Rouse
in a battle of college softball juggernauts, the three-time defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners edged the No. 6-seeded UCLA Bruins 1-0 on Saturday in the Women's College World Series and now are just three wins away from an historic fourth consecutive national championship.
OU starting pitcher Kelly Maxwell went the distance, holding the potent UCLA lineup to just two hits, both singles, while striking out 11. The graduate transfer from Oklahoma State was brilliant in the circle, challenging hitters and having good command of her pitches. Among her 11 strikeouts were three against UCLA's best player, shortstop Maya Brady.
Eleven of the 21 UCLA outs recorded in the game were by strikeout, and most were swinging strikeouts.
Brady is the 12th-best hitter in Division I softball this season with a .436 season batting average, and Maxwell stuck her out swinging on three successive trips to the plate. Brady, the niece of future NFL Hall of Famer Tom Brady has struck out three times in a game just one other time in her career.
A home run by OU senior Tiare Jennings leading off the third inning produced the only run in the game and proved to be the difference. The Sooners only collected four hits in the game off UCLA pitchers Kaitlyn Terry and Taylor Tinsley, and two of them were by Jennings, who also singled to center field in the first inning.
Jennings' home run was the 96th of her career and breaks a tie for third place all-time behind another Oklahoma All-American softball player, Jocelyn Alo, who leads the pack with 122 homers in her five seasons at OU. Before Saturday, Jennings was tied with former Oklahoma alum Lauren Chamberlain (95).
The Sooners (56-6) on the year just missed adding two more runs in the third inning when a home run ball by freshman Kasidi Pickering was caught on a spectacular fielding play by center fielder Janelle Meono as the ball crossed over the center field fence.
OU second baseman Alynah Torres had to leave the game in the top of the third innings after being hit in the face by an infield pop up that she appeared to lose in the sun. The batter was called out because of the infield fly rule, but the Bruins had runners on first and second at the time and they were able to advance a base as the ball caromed into foul territory.
With the win on Saturday, Oklahoma earns a day off and won't have to play again until Monday afternoon, when they will face the winner of a Sunday elimination game between No. 14 Alabama and the loser of Saturday night's winner's bracket contest between No. 1 Texas and No. 4 Florida. Whichever team survives that Sunday elimination game will advance to play OU on Monday and will need to beat the Sooners twice to go to the championship series.
The Sooners have now won 20 consecutive NCAA postseason games.