OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. “”mdash;UCLA’s Tairia Mims had a dream
game with the bat against Cal.
The only problem was her bat was more than negated by her three
errors in the field during the Bruins’ 7-3, 10-inning loss to
Cal in their first-round game of the Women’s College World
Series on Thursday night.
The senior All-American third baseman had three RBI, including a
dramatic home run with two outs in the seventh inning, which tied
and sent the game to extra innings, but her triplicate of errors
resulted in three unearned runs that killed any chance of
victory.
Her first error of the game was during the fifth inning with the
score tied at one. The bases were loaded with third baseman Vicky
Galindo hitting a slow roller to Mims who bobbled the ball. The
miscue allowed Cal center fielder Kaleo Eldridge to score.
After Veronica Nelson’s solo home run made the score 3-1
in favor of the Golden Bears, Mims had a chance at redemption in
the seventh inning. With two outs and a runner on first base and
the crowd already filing out of Don Porter Hall of Fame Stadium,
Mims hit a towering home run to left-center field off pitcher Kelly
Anderson, tying the game 3-3 and energizing the UCLA bench.
But the Bruins could not take advantage of the momentum created
by Mims’ shot, and Cal once again put the ball into play used
the Bruins’ shoddy defense to their advantage. In the tenth
inning, after a Courtney Scott single, a Nelson intentional walk
and a sacrifice bunt by designated player Haley Woods, the Bruins
faced trouble with runners on second and third with only one
out.
Eldridge came up and hit a slow roller to Goerl who first
bobbled the ball and then attempted to pick off Scott from third
base, resulting in a wild throw that scored Scott.
After two walks, a strikeout by Goerl and the score now 5-3,
Mims once again had a chance to give the Bruins life. Once again,
Galindo came up and hit a slow roller to Mims and this time Mims
went for the sure out at first, but a combination of
Galindo’s speed and Mims’ wild throw to the left of
first baseman Claire Sua resulted in two runs scoring, making the
score 7-3.
The Bruins, who also lost their first round game last year in
extra innings, move to the elimination bracket of the WCWS. They
will face the sixth-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at 1
p.m. in an elimination game.
The Ragin’ Cajuns lost to Texas earlier in the day
3-2.
In the other games, Arizona beat Alabama 3-2 and Washington beat
Oklahoma 3-1.