Bruins simply overpowering in run to 11th softball crown

By UCLA’s standards, five years without an NCAA softball title qualified as a drought.

So the Bruins’ power display Tuesday night at the Women’s College World Series helped restore a sense of order.

UCLA hit four more home runs en route to a 15-9 victory over Arizona at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, a win that gave the Bruins their 11th national title and their first since 2004.

Megan Langenfeld, Andrea Harrison, Julie Burney and Samantha Camuso homered as UCLA completed its sweep through a series that included victories over Florida, Hawaii and Georgia and two against Pacific 10 Conference rival Arizona in the best-of-three final.

Kelly Inouye-Perez, a former Bruins player and assistant, won the national title in her fourth season as UCLA’s head coach.

“This was about being able to bring back the pride, history and tradition of a great softball program and what it feels like to be on top,” Inouye-Perez said in a telephone interview. “But it was also about more than softball because this was a great group of girls who played their best at this stage of the season and in this moment.”

Langenfeld was selected as the series’ most outstanding player after hitting four home runs, driving in nine runs and going 3-0 as a pitcher.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Langenfeld said by phone. “Everyone was calm, there was sense of peace and no one was freaking out no matter what was happening. If it wasn’t me, it was someone else stepping up.”

Langenfeld, a senior from Bakersfield, had slugged two homers Monday night, including an extra-inning walk-off shot, but the Wildcats inexplicably continued to pitch to her.

Langenfeld made Arizona pay, hitting a two-run homer in her first at-bat Tuesday.

Arizona (52-14) intentionally walked Langenfeld to load the bases in the second inning, but that backfired when Harrison, a sophomore from Garden Grove, ripped a grand slam to give UCLA a 6-0 lead.

Arizona pulled to within 7-4 in the fourth inning, but Burney, a senior from Placentia, keyed a seven-run fifth with a three-run shot. Camuso, a sophomore from Redding, homered in the sixth for a Bruins’ team that collected 19 hits.

UCLA starter Aleah Macon (13-1) pitched 41/3 innings to earn the win.

Arizona starter Kenzie Fowler (38-9) pitched one-plus innings but was replaced by Sarah Akamine after hitting B.B. Bates in the head with a pitch.

Stacie Chambers homered twice and Lini Koria also homered for Arizona.

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gary.klein@latimes.com

Klein reported from Los Angeles.