UCLA falls to Tennessee in season-ending heartbreaker at Women’s College World Series

OKLAHOMA CITY — UCLA‘s run at the Women’s College World Series ended Sunday, two innings after Bruins slugger Megan Grant extended it.

Laura Mealer‘s bases-loaded, walk-off single to right field in the bottom of the ninth propelled Tennessee to a 5-4 win and a semifinal meeting with Texas at 9 a.m. PDT Monday.

The Volunteers (47-16) did what UCLA couldn’t in the ninth: deliver with the bases loaded. The Bruins got singles from Savannah Pola and Jordan Woolery followed by an intentional walk to Grant. But Alexis Ramirez grounded out to first to end the inning.

Taylor Pannell hit a deep fly to left field to lead off Tennessee’s half of the ninth, a ball that caromed off Rylee Slimp’s glove and hit the white padding on the top of the wall but didn’t leave the field. The play was reviewed and ruled a double.

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Mealer, who knocked in two runs in the first inning to give the Volunteers an early 2-0 lead, delivered again, this time on a 2-2 pitch from Taylor Tinsley, who came on in relief of UCLA starter Kaitlyn Terry.

“Well, that was one of the most exciting, intense, emotional games I have ever been part of in all my years of coaching,” Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said, “and I couldn’t be more proud of our young women hanging in there, not letting what happened in the seventh inning cost us the game.”

Ramirez and Sofia Mujica hit solo home runs in the second inning and Woolery had four hits for the Bruins, who finished 55-13. It was UCLA’s 150th WCWS game.

“Just a great battle to the end,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “I could not be more proud. Period. Just the ability for us to be able to fight, the ability for us to come back, the epic [rally], just down to the last pitch ... there’s something about what UCLA softball can do, with your backs against the wall and just rising to the occasion creates some amazing memories.”

Two innings before the Volunteers walked off, Grant changed the complexion of the game and extended the Bruins’ season with one swing.

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Or so the Bruins and their faithful inside Devon Park thought.

Grant’s two-out, two-run homer to right field off Tennessee ace Karlyn Pickens, a no-doubter that traveled 251 feet and appeared to pull the score even at 4-4, was in doubt for about 15 minutes.

A review was initiated to determine if Grant touched home plate or was interfered with by a teammate. The on-field call was upheld and play resumed.

Vickie Van Kleeck, NCAA secretary-rules editor for NCAA softball, and Steve McCowan, national coordinator of softball umpires, stated in postgame pool report that assisting a runner on the basepaths is not a reviewable play under NCAA rules. Even if it were reviewable, the home run would have stood and UCLA would have been issued a warning, the report stated.

Grant called the homer “kind of a blackout moment.”

“I know, just going into that at-bat I wanted to keep my mind right and stay aggressive,” she said. “And honestly, after the swing, I did blackout indeed.”

Grant’s blast was her 26th of the season, breaking the Big Ten single-season mark. Grant and Woolery combined for 49 homers on the season.

“Oh, my gosh. I’m really sad we didn’t get to 50,” Woolery said. “But Meg is awesome. She makes it easy for me to be great, and in the game today, knowing that it wasn’t all on me to get the job done with two outs. If you have Megan behind you, it’s easy to feel a lot less pressure.

“So just getting on and letting Meg do the rest. As soon as she hit the ball, I started crying. It was just such a good moment and a culmination of all the year in one moment. So it was awesome to see. We’ll be back. So get ready. Fifty is coming!”

Tennessee loaded the bases in its half of the first against Terry and pulled ahead 2-0 on a single to center by Mealer, who finished with two hits and three RBI.

UCLA answered with homers by Ramirez and Mujica to tie it.

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The Bruins loaded the bases in the fifth with two outs, but Pickens struck out Ramirez to end the threat. Tennessee made Terry pay in the bottom of the inning when Gabby Leach singled to center field and Pannell stepped up and blasted a two-run homer down the left field line to put Tennessee back in front 4-2.

Terry, a sophomore, pitched five innings, giving up eight hits and four runs, striking out seven and walking one batter. Tinsley went 3 1/3 innings, yielding three hits and four walks.

Despite Grant’s seventh-inning heroics, UCLA left 10 runners on base against the Volunteers and five on base the night before against Texas Tech in a 3-1 loss to Red Raiders and ace NiJaree Canady.

“I love that we were in that situation,” Inouye-Perez said. “We’re facing some of the best arms. NiJa was real and we hit her well. We hit Karlyn Pickens well. We hit them well. So it’s the game. I wish they could have all been perfect and score 20 runs, but to get runners in scoring position is the name of the game. Quality at-bats puts you in that position, and everybody wants to come through in those big moments.

“But what we did against the arms and the teams, we just played the game. And unfortunately sometimes you come through, sometimes you don’t. That doesn’t define you in the moment. But this team came back and fought against a great opponent.”