In a true pitcher’s duel in Oklahoma City between UCLA and Washington, Rachel Garcia’s heroics on both sides of the ball sent her team to the Championship Series that will begin Monday night.
UCLA had only one runner in scoring position through the regulation seven innings. A back-and-forth matchup between the two Pac-12 powerhouses came down to who could score first, as the game was scoreless into the 10th inning.
Gabbie Plain got the start for the Huskies. She scattered three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts over six innings before Taran Alvelo came on in relief one batter into the 7th inning, and earned her 300th strikeout of the season. Alvelo was removed from the game as Plain re-entered in the 10th inning, following a leadoff single by Kelli Godin. Plain recorded a flyout and allowed a single to Aaliyah Jordan before the National Player of the Year stepped into the box. Garcia took a 1-2 changeup to deep left field for a walk-off homer, sending her team to the finals. The junior was 0-4 prior to the plate appearance.
Washington’s Sis Bates went two for five on the day, and freshman Sami Reynolds had three hits herself. The Huskies tallied eight hits and squared up several balls, but Garcia prevailed in big moments, as Washington could not come up with a timely hit. Washington was 0-10 with runners in scoring position and left twelve on base. Garcia threw 179 pitches and recorded 16 strikeouts, both season highs. One of the best performances in Garcia’s career came on the biggest stage, as she and her team reached the final for the first time since 2010.
Alvelo threw four strikeouts in three innings of relief, bringing her to second in Washington history in strikeouts. She is only the third Husky to reach the single-season 300 strikeout mark, alongside Jennifer Spediacci and Danielle Lawrie. Alvelo was a two-time All-American and a four time All Pac-12 selection.
Washington graduates Alvelo; All-Region selection and outfielder Amirah Milloy; infielder Brittany Were; and catcher Rachel Ogasawara. The senior class reached the WCWS semifinals for the third consecutive season.
Game 2: Alabama 1, Oklahoma 0 (8)
The Oklahoma Sooners took on the Alabama Crimson Tide in a semifinal game between these two teams. OU and Alabama met up on day 1 of the WCWS, with the Sooners then taking the 3-2 victory in the late innings. In that game, Oklahoma and Alabama traded punches the first five innings before Oklahoma’s Nicole Mendes tripled over the head of Merris Schroder in left field for the 3-2 lead.
Montana Fouts, the SEC Freshman of the Year, got the start for Alabama following their two-win Saturday through the elimination bracket to reach the semifinals. Oklahoma, after winning a game on both Thursday and Friday, rested up on Saturday prior to Sunday afternoon’s matchup. G Juarez started in the circle for the third time in the WCWS, having thrown every inning for the Sooners in Oklahoma City. Each of these pitchers limited potent offenses to a total of ten hits, with each program leaving five runners on base.
Sydney Romero singled on a bunt in the top of the third inning and advanced to second via a throwing error on Maddie Morgan. Fouts induced a Fale Aviu pop out for the second out of the inning before Fouts struck out Caleigh Clifton to end the threat.
The top of the fourth began with a Jocelyn Alo scorcher snagged by Maddie Morgan at the hot corner. Grace Green walked, followed by a Shay Knighten single to put two Sooners on base. Claire Jenkins then made a great play in the shortstop position to retire the lead runner, Green, at third base. Kylie Lundberg flied out to right field to end the Sooners threat, leaving two on base.
From the first inning until the sixth, the only Alabama hitter to get a hit on the afternoon was Bailey Hemphill. Sydney Romero and Shay Knighten both singled back in the 3rd and 4th inning, which would be the only two hits given up by Fouts. Jocelyn Alo walked with one out in the top of the sixth inning before Green lined out to Morgan at third base, who leaped into foul territory to make the catch and one-hopped the throw to Bailey Hemphill at first to double off pinch runner, Raegan Rogers. The score remained tied at zero.
The Sooners threatened in the top of the 7th inning after Lynnsie Elam reached on an error and Fouts found herself with two on and only one out. Fouts would then strike out Grace Lyons and get Romero to fly to shortstop to end the inning.
Juarez struck out Hemphill on an off-speed pitch to start the home half of the 7th. Kaylee Tow delivered a huge double off Nicole Mendes’ glove to put herself in scoring position with only one out. Juarez induced a pop out from Claire Jenkins, and then Mendes propelled herself horizontal into a fully laid out position for a low line drive catch off the bat of Maddie Morgan.
Oklahoma threatened again in the top of the 8th when Jocelyn Alo doubled down the third base line with two outs. Montana Fouts, boasting an outstanding night already, struck out her fifth batter of the night.
In the top of the 8th, Alabama’s Reagan Dykes singled off the glove of a diving Clifton at second base, followed by a Wallace sacrifice bunt. With two outs and a pinch runner, Kloyee Anderson, on second base, Caroline Hardy hit a full-count single up the middle to walk off the first game. Alabama took game one 1-0 to force a decisive semifinal matchup for a chance to meet UCLA in the championship series opener Monday night.
Game 3: Oklahoma 7, Alabama 3
Prior to their earlier Sunday loss, Oklahoma’s offense hadn’t been shut out since the WCWS a season ago. The Crimson Tide started Krystal Goodman, a junior college transfer from Chipola College. Going into the start, Goodman was 11-0 on the year, only allowing 16 earned runs in 89.1 innings. Giselle Juarez got the ball for the Sooners, her fourth consecutive start.
Oklahoma wasted no time getting on the board in their second game of the day. Sydney Romero walked and scored on Caleigh Clifton’s double to right-center. A wild pitch reached the backstop and Alabama catcher Reagan Dykes could not locate the ball, allowing Clifton to score.
In the following frame, Dykes blasted a solo shot, her 8th of the season, to put the Tide on the scoreboard. Oklahoma entered Mariah Lopez in relief for Juarez, who ended the inning on a flyout.
Scoring would cease until the bottom of the 5th inning, when Oklahoma increased their lead by two additional runs, with 4-1 the score after the inning. After Goodman and Grace Lyons battled in a 10-pitch matchup, Lyons walked to start the inning. Sydney Romero fouled out and Caleigh Clifton struck out swinging, putting Alabama an out away from getting out of another Sooner threat. Instead, Jocelyn Alo lifted a rocket dead center over the bleachers, her 16th long ball and team-leading 56th RBI of the season, and propelling the Sooners six outs away from reaching the championship series.
Alabama was not going down easily, Reagan Dykes walked on five pitches with one out and Skylar Wallace blasted a 2-run home run over the left-center field fence to cut the Oklahoma lead to 4-3. Wallace’s shot was her 7th on the year and 32nd RBI of the season.
Oklahoma responded in the bottom of the 6th as Nicole Mendes hit a riseball over the right field fence. The two run homer was the junior’s 6th of the season and 40th RBI, bringing the score to 6-3. Shay Knighten’s pinch runner, Reagan Rogers, crossed home following a single. Sarah Cornell came in to relieve Goodman, and recorded two outs before Grace Lyons sent another ball out of the park for the Sooners, in what was the freshman’s 8th home run of the year.
Shannon Saile entered to pitch in the bottom of the 7th for the second time in Oklahoma City. The junior walked one and hit one batter before recording the final out, sending the Sooners to Monday.
Five different Sooners recorded hits, with four extra base hits. Prior to the contest, Oklahoma’s offense had yet to hit a home run in the WCWS. On Sunday night, they hit three, moving them past Arizona as the nation’s home run leaders with 111 on the season.
Alabama finishes the year as the reigning SEC regular season champions, and graduating mainstay players in the lineup: Alabama says good bye to left fielder Merris Schroder, catcher Reagan Dykes, pitcher Courtney Gettins, and primary pinch hitter Caroline Hardy. Hardy’s biggest hit of her career came in the bottom of the 8th inning against the Sooners just hours prior to her career ending, recording the RBI that forced a game three.
Oklahoma advances to yet another championship series, their 3rd in the last four seasons. The Sooners’ decorated senior class includes Romero, Clifton, Knighten, Fale Aviu, Reagan Rogers, and Kylie Lundberg.
