Bruins Rally to 6-5 Victory in Instant Classic at Oregon State
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The No. 4 UCLA softball team rallied for five runs in the seventh inning to upend Oregon State, 6-5, in a come-from-behind victory at Kelly Field on Friday night.
The Bruins' (34-5, 11-2 Pac-12) 7-8-9 hitters all singled to load the bases for Kinsley Washington who, with a ground out to second, brought one UCLA runner home and move two others into scoring position. Delanie Wisz, who had already homered in the game, stepped to the plate with two outs and the tying runs on second and third.
After eight pitches and UCLA down to its final strike four times in the at-bat, Wisz delivered a game-tying, 2-RBI double down the left field line to even the score, 4-4.
Maya Brady dug into the batter's box after Wisz. On a 1-2 count, Brady golfed a go-ahead, two-run homer to opposite field off a drop ball. It was Brady's first longball in 13 games since game one of the Arizona series on March 19.
On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, and with the Bruins down to their final strike four times, Delanie Wisz delivered a game-tying, 2-RBI double to left field.
Relive the drama ⤵#GoBruins | @delanieewisz pic.twitter.com/q24TN20wG9
— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) April 23, 2022
Wisz's performance marked her fourth double and 10th homer of the season. She now leads the Bruins with a .410 batting average during the regular season. Wisz also leads the Pac-12 with a .545 batting average in conference play.
Megan Faraimo, who started the game with 5.1 innings, re-entered the circle in the seventh inning to close it out. Faraimo gave up a home run and walked the first two hitters she faced in relief, bringing the Beavers' (31-13, 7-9 Pac-12) tying run to the plate.
Faraimo proceeded to induce a foul out to third baseman Seneca Curo and rung up Erin Mendoza for her 12th strikeout of the game in what would be half of a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.
Wisz said if her dugout had not yelled, "Runner!", she would have not known Oregon State's Kiani Nakamura was stealing. On deck was the top of the Beaver lineup in Kiki Escobar.
The game was tied 0-0 through four innings prior to the late-game dramatics. Faraimo struck out eight Beavers through four innings, striking out the side twice in both the first and third innings.
Oregon State scratched the game's first runs across the board with a two-run homer off Faraimo in the bottom of the fifth. After Wisz's solo shot in the sixth, the Beavers answered by knocking Faraimo out of the game with a one-out double. Azevedo was tagged four two singles, the latter of which came with the bases loaded and bounced off Curo into right field foul territory allowing two runs to score.
Brady's homer to left field sealed her first multi-RBI game since the Bruins' 17-1 victory over CSU Bakersfield on March 12.