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Women's College World Series: Washington, UCLA advance to semifinals

by Sarah Kezele
Jun 1, 2018

Two of the Pac-12 teams in action on Friday moved on to the WCWS semifinals, while Oregon continues the fight for its postseason life Saturday.

[Related: 2018 NCAA Women's College World Series bracket (NCAA.com)]

No. 5 seed Washington 6, No. 1 seed Oregon 2

The Washington Huskies are on to the Women’s College World Series semifinal following a grind-it-out win over their archrival, the Oregon Ducks, Friday night in Oklahoma City. This is Washington’s second-straight year advancing to the WCWS semis.

It was a defensive battle early on as Washington’s Gabbie Plain and Oregon’s Megan Kleist were working no-hitters into the fourth inning. But a four-run fifth inning broke it open for the Dawgs.

A leadoff single along with a couple Oregon miscues put UW runners on the corners with no outs, marking the first time a Husky got past first base all night. Trysten Melhart then drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Kelly Burdick was next up and slapped a chopper to third to get Kaija Gibson home, but not without some blood and bruises: Gibson’s face collided with the glove of Oregon catcher Gwen Svekis at the plate as she scored Washington’s first run.

Melhart and Maggie Gallagher crossed the plate the next at-bat to make it 3-0, Huskies. Melhart’s run was credited due to obstruction on Svekis.

Oregon coach Mike White pulled Megan Kleist from the circle in favor of Miranda Elish, but UW’s Sis Bates produced an RBI double off Elish’s first pitch to stretch the score to 4-0.

Washington tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning and flirted with the mercy rule, but ended the inning leading 6-0.

It’s not that Oregon couldn’t get on base. The Ducks actually got a runner in scoring position all seven innings — yes, even as Gabbie Plain was working a no-hitter — but stranded nine.

Oregon avoided the shutout in the seventh inning, plating Shaye Bowden off a Taryn Atlee error and pushing Jenna Lilley with an RBI single.

Oregon plays in an elimination game Saturday at 6:30 p.m. PT against (7) Georgia or (6) Florida State, whichever team survives the 11:30 a.m. elimination game Saturday morning.

Washington has Saturday off, advancing to the WCWS semis on Sunday at 10 a.m. PT.

UCLA

No. 3 seed UCLA 6, No. 2 seed Florida 5

For a squad that’s used to blowing out teams from the get-go, UCLA sure is good at those come-from-behind wins.

The Bruins followed up their sixth-inning rally on Thursday night with a five-run fourth inning on Friday to take a lead they would hold on to as they advance to the Women’s College World Series semifinals.

But don’t let the final score fool you: It was a pitchers' duel all night long. Even UCLA’s five runs in that fourth inning were all generated off of one hit.

Florida pitcher Kelly Barnhill looked unhittable through the first three innings for the Gators. In fact, she was unhittable, striking out her first eight batters faced and retiring the ninth with a groundout. She finished the night with 13 Ks.

UCLA’s Rachel Garcia wasn’t too shabby, either, tallying 14 strikeouts in a complete game effort.

Florida held a 4-0 lead entering the fourth inning and seemed to be cruising to victory when the tide started to turn. After a hit-by-pitch, a wild pitch and a walk to load the bases with Bruins, Barnhill walked Bubba Nickles to push Briana Perez across the plate and get their first run on the board.

Bases still juiced with only one out, Aaliyah Jordan made it home from third on a controversial call. The umpires did not review whether she was safe at home — which would have been the third out of the inning — but she was credited with the run to make it 4-2.

Up next was Taylor Pack, who smacked a three-run home run to erase the Bruins’ deficit and take a 5-4 lead.

Bubba Nickles added an insurance run in the sixth, a solo shot to left-center.

Florida’s Jordan Roberts kept it interesting, hitting a solo shot of her own in the bottom of the sixth, but Garcia staved off the remaining Gator batters to get the win.

UCLA takes Saturday off and only needs one win Sunday at 12:30 p.m. PT to get to the championship series.

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