UCLA Splits Doubleheader With Oklahoma, Ending Season
OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 5-seed UCLA softball team had its season come to a close Monday, splitting a doubleheader with top-seeded Oklahoma in the semifinal round of the Women's College World Series at Hall of Fame Stadium.
The Bruins (51-10) extended their campaign with a 7-3 win in the opener, as Maya Brady hit two home runs and drove in five runs. Delanie Wisz also homered and scored three times.
In the second game, Jocelyn Alo went 4-for-4 with two home runs and seven runs batted in to help Oklahoma (57-3) to a 15-0 run-rule victory. Her fifth-inning grand slam went for the day's final runs, with UCLA unable to answer in the bottom half.
Megan Faraimo (24-5) earned the win in Game 1, with Holly Azevedo pitching the final three innings for her second save of the year. Azevedo (21-3) was the Bruins' pitcher of record in the second game. The Sooners' Nicole May (15-1) took her first loss in the opener and Hope Trautwein (21-1) tossed a complete game in the afternoon tilt.
UCLA started the day with a bang, scoring two runs – a first for an Oklahoma opponent in an opening inning this season – on a home run by Wisz. Kinsley Washington led off the frame with a walk and, one batter later, Wisz unloaded on a 1-2 pitch from May to left-center field. Alyssa Garcia added a two-out single and Savannah Pola walked, but the Bruins were unable to add to their lead.
The Sooners quickly cut their deficit in half in the bottom of the first, as leadoff hitter Jayda Coleman drove a Faraimo offering over the right-center field wall. Faraimo settled in, though, retiring the next nine Oklahoma batters.
UCLA struck again in the third. A leadoff single by Briana Perez was followed by a walk to Wisz, bringing Brady to the plate. Ahead in the count once more, May had her pitch deposited to straightaway center field. Brady's homer gave the Bruins a 5-1 lead and the Sooners their largest deficit of the year.
Oklahoma soon responded, ending Faraimo's run through its lineup. Alo singled to open the bottom of the fourth inning. Then, with one out, Grace Lyons homered to left field to make the score 5-3. A single by Alyssa Brito two pitches later was stranded and Azevedo entered in relief for UCLA in the bottom of the fifth.
The Bruins put the game away in the seventh thanks to a two-out rally by another Brady home run. Wisz walked and, after driving May from the game with her first round-tripper, Brady touched up Jordy Bahl for the exclamation point. Azevedo logged her third scoreless, hitless frame to close it out.
TWO-HOMER DAY FOR MAYA BRADY!!! 💥💥
📺: ESPN
📱: https://t.co/DcxZOTIHS6#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/gpc4mZNq9o— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) June 6, 2022
It was the Sooners who made a statement early in the second game, as they got to Azevedo in the first inning. Each of the first three hitters reached, with Tiare Jennings supplying the big hit – a three-run home run to left-center field.
Oklahoma turned in a repeat performance in the second, with Alo homering to left field off Faraimo, who entered the game after the Sooners collected back-to-back singles to start the frame.
Oklahoma blew it open in the fifth inning, putting its first eight hitters aboard and Alo making it 15-0 with a bases-clearing homer off Lauren Shaw.