Bruins cap stunning sweep of Oregon to advance to Women’s College World Series
UCLA’s Gabrielle Maurice watches the flight of her solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the score against Oregon in the second game of their super regional series on Sunday.
The UCLA Bruins were two outs away from packing their bags at the end of the softball season. Instead, the Bruins are packing their bags for a trip to the Women’s College World Series.
The Bruins stunned the Pac-12 Conference champions from Oregon twice Sunday, winning a pair of 2-1 games to claim the Eugene Super Regional championship.
“My heartbeat … I’m still shaking,” senior third baseman Mysha Sataraka said well after the Bruins concluded a wild celebration on the infield of Oregon’s Jane Sanders Stadium.
The Bruins (40-14-1), seeded 12th in the 64-team NCAA tournament, take on No. 4 seed Auburn (54-10) in Thursday’s opening round of World Series games in Oklahoma City.
“We’re playing great ball,” UCLA Coach Kelly Inoye-Perez said. “We just beat a great team. We’re excited to go back out there and play.”
After losing, 8-1, Saturday, UCLA had to win twice Sunday, and play nine innings in the first game, to keep its season alive and eliminate the fifth-seeded Ducks (48-10).
The Bruins relied on strong pitching and defense and timely hitting to overcome the Ducks and a boisterous sellout crowd of 2,517.
“It’s not much fun going through this,” Oregon Coach Mike White said. “Congratulations to UCLA. They played well.”
White, an International Hall of Fame pitcher in his playing days, praised winning pitchers Selina Ta’amilo and Paige McDuffee.
Ta’amilo (19-5) gave up a triple to Jenna Lilley to lead off the first game, then completed a four-hitter with no runs allowed after the first inning.
McDuffee (6-1), battered in a losing relief appearance Saturday, took over for Ta’amilo after three batters in Sunday’s second game and allowed just four hits the rest of the way.
UCLA players celebrate a 2-0 win over Oregon to advance to the Women’s College World Series on Sunday. They were holding their final practice for in Oklahoma City when they heard about he fatal shooting at UCLA.
“We wouldn’t be sitting here if Selina didn’t pitch the way she did,” Inoye-Perez said.
McDuffee said her Saturday woes stemmed largely from “getting behind in the count. They were making some adjustments to me. Today, I was just attacking the [strike] zone.”
McDuffee shut out Oregon until Lilley stroked a run-scoring double with two out in the seventh inning on a fly ball misjudged by center fielder Allexis Bennett. The game ended on a running catch by left fielder Gabrielle Maurice.
Oregon ace Cheridan Hawkins (24-4) threw a three-hitter with nine strikeouts. Leadoff walks led to runs in the first and fourth innings.
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