UCLA walks off Virginia Tech, 7-6, advances to regional final on Savannah Pola single
Twice trailing on Saturday — including an original deficit of four runs — UCLA kept on plugging in a winners bracket matchup against Virginia Tech in the Los Angeles Regional. And the Bruins came up clutch when it mattered most, walking off with a 7-6 win to advance to the regional finals.
UCLA entered the bottom of the 7th inning trailing, 6-5, after the Hokies plated a go-ahead run in the top of the frame. It was almost two runs when a play at the plate was originally ruled obstruction, but after review the runner was out.
Then, after a Jordan Woolery RBI triple to tie the game at 6-6, Savannah Pola smacked an opposite field single into the outfield, scoring Woolery and ending the game.
Virginia Tech will face the winner of San Diego State and Grand Canyon later on Saturday in an elimination game. UCLA will face the winner of that game on Sunday.
The Bruins coach shared how her squad could overcome the early deficit
After a rough go for Taylor Tinsley to start the day in the circle for UCLA, head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez turned to freshman Kaitlyn Terry to stem the tide. And she managed just that as the Bruins tried to work back from a 4-0 deficit.
Playing in the winners bracket of the Los Angeles Regional, hosted by the Bruins, UCLA had a bit of margin beyond just Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech. But after pulling back two runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Inouye-Perez felt her squad turning the tide.
“I think the most important thing is being able to find a way to at least get on the board, to be able to cut that lead in half,” Inouye-Perez said on the ESPN broadcast. “But we said, we hope opponent brings their A game, they clearly did, because it allows us to be able to rise to the occasion. There’s a lot of game left, we’re making adjustments, I like what we’re doing and the bottom line you’ve gotta have KT and Taylor Tinsley’s back right now, so the offense has to show up.”
And in a stroke of convenient timing, the Bruins began clawing back even more runs in the bottom of the 4th inning. With a pair of runs with no outs in the bottom of the frame, the Bruins managed to tie the score before doing even more damage. With runners on second and third, star Maya Brady delivered a deep fly ball to left field to score a sacrifice fly, giving UCLA a 5-4 lead, the first of the day for the Bruins.
Tinsley only lasted into the second inning, when she was pulled after recording just four outs and already giving up three runs. A final was plated after Terry came in, but she held the Hokies in check after coming on in relief.
Inouye-Perez shared that she expects that UCLA will need both pitchers to come through for the Bruins to get back to the Women’s College World Series.
“They’ve been a tag-team all year. We could’ve gone one way or another, but bottom line we needed both, we’re going to need both of them today,” Inouye-Perez said. “But KT’s done a great job. She’s expanded the zone. These guys are swinging, they’re free swinging, so we’ve gotta expand the zone, we’ve gotta come up with great pitches. She’s done a great job of being able to flip momentum and now it’s going to be an opportunity for her to just get stronger through the game.”