This post was updated June 2 at 4:24 p.m.
It was deja vu for the Bruins.
Two games, two wins and redshirt junior pitcher Rachel Garcia in the circle one win away from the Women’s College World Series championship series.
No. 2 seed UCLA softball (54-6, 20-4 Pac-12) outlasted No. 3 seed Washington (52-9, 20-4) in a 3-0 win thanks to Garcia’s walk-off three-run home run in the 10th inning.
Last year at this exact point in the season, UCLA lost to Florida State – the eventual national champions – in the semifinals.
“I was very proud of our effort last year, you can clearly see (Garcia) was convicted; she wasn’t going to let that happen again,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “That’s what it comes down to. Your ability to stay convicted. This team never gave up. This team literally continued to throw many punches. Washington is a legit team. Every time we play them it’s a dogfight and we knew that coming in.”
Freshman left fielder Kelli Godin led off the 10th with an infield single. With two outs, redshirt sophomore right fielder Aaliyah Jordan singled up the middle to bring Garcia up to the plate with two on and two outs. On the 1-1 pitch, she hit a grounder to third that was called foul by the third base umpire, keeping her at-bat alive.
But on the next pitch, Garcia sent the walk-off big fly half way up the bleachers in left and sent the Bruins back to the championship series for the first time in nine years.
Garcia said the game plan was to look in and when that 1-2 inside change up came in, she knew she had to hit it.
“I think just during that whole at-bat, I could just hear everyone behind me telling me I got this,” Garcia said. “I’m not going to lie, I think I shed a tear a little bit. Just seeing everyone run out to the home plate just really put a smile on my face. I was just super excited for all of us.”
Garcia took the circle and went the distance in a 10-inning complete-game shutout, throwing 179 pitches with 16 strikeouts.
She had to pitch out of situations in which the Huskies had runners on first and second in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but strikeouts and ground balls got the Bruins out of those jams.
Gabbie Plain started in the circle for Washington, turning in six innings before Taran Alvelo pitched three innings in relief. Plain came back in the 10th inning and got a pop out and fielder’s choice before giving up the walk-off home run.
The Bruins are headed back to the championship series for the first time since 2010 – the year last they won it all.
“It’s amazing, we feel so good right now,” said junior center fielder Bubba Nickles. “But we’re not done yet. We have a lot that we want to accomplish still. Today was tough, but it was a good way for us to be prepared for the next couple of days.”