UCLA was five outs away from securing a win in the opening round
of the Women’s College World Series. The Bruins were five
outs away from being in an ideal position to advance deep into the
World Series and win a national championship.
But because of a breakdown in the sixth inning, UCLA lost to
Tennessee 4-3 early this morning, and now has a tough road to get
to the Championship Series.
The No. 1-ranked Bruins have Friday off, but would have to win
two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday to get to the final.
A team that has lost its first game at the World Series has only
won the national championship twice ““ Texas A&M did it in
1987, and UCLA pulled off the feat in 2003.
Before the sixth inning, No. 8-seed Tennessee couldn’t do
anything offensively. But then the floodgates opened. Five hits and
an error by the left fielder would allow three runs to score,
giving Tennessee the lead.
The Lady Volunteers added an insurance run in the seventh. With
the bases loaded and two outs, Kristi Durant singled, scoring one
before Tonya Callahan was thrown out at home by UCLA centerfielder
Tara Henry.
Tennessee star pitcher Monica Abbott allowed a couple of runs
early on and had to escape UCLA comeback attempts in the bottom of
the sixth and seventh. In the bottom of the sixth, shortstop Jodie
Legaspi led off the inning with an infield single, but the next two
batters got out, not able to even advance the runner. Because of
that, a pinch-hit, two-out single by Danielle Peterson proved to be
of no use. Abbott would strike out Andrea Duran with the bases
loaded to end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, UCLA mounted a rally, but fell
short. A two-out Lisa Dodd single would score Benyi and cut the
deficit to 4-3. But Whitney Holum grounded out to end the game.
UCLA’s next opponent will be Alabama, in an 11a.m. start
(Pacific Time) in Oklahoma City. Alabama lost to Northwestern on
Thursday, 6-5, in 10 innings. The loser would be eliminated, and
the winner would play again later that night.
All of the games were delayed on Thursday because of weather and
two games went into extra innings. UCLA’s game was supposed
to start at 6 p.m. Pacific Time but didn’t get started until
9:20 p.m. (11:20 Oklahoma City time).
In the other two games at the Women’s College World Series
on Thursday, Arizona beat Oregon State 3-2 in nine innings and
Texas beat Arizona State 2-0.