WATCH: Oklahoma strikes first in WCWS rematch against UCLA with home run
No. 1 seed Oklahoma wasted no time getting on the board in its second game vs. UCLA of the day on Monday.
Tiare Jennings stepped to the plate and hit a three-run home run in the top of the first inning to give the Sooners a 3-0 lead out of the gate in the if-necessary game. It’s the first lead of the day for Oklahoma, which fell to the Bruins 7-3 in the first game on Monday.
All of the runs in the first game came via home runs, including two blasts from UCLA’s Maya Brady. She hit the dagger in the top of the seventh inning to lift the Bruins to the upset victory — and hand Oklahoma just its third loss of the season.
The winner of the Game 2 between the two teams punches its ticket to the championship series of the WCWS.
UCLA upsets No. 1 seed Oklahoma to up rematch for championship series appearance
UCLA did something Monday only two other teams have done. The Bruins beat Oklahoma — and they’ll have the chance to do it again.
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UCLA rode three big home runs, including two from Maya Brady, and some strong pitching performances to a 7-3 victory over the No. 1-seeded Sooners. It was just Oklahoma’s third loss of the season after falling to Texas during the regular season and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Softball Tournament.
The scoring got started with a busy first-inning. UCLA’s Delanie Wisz hit a two-run home run off Nicole May to give the Bruins the early 2-0 lead. But Oklahoma answered back in the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff blast from Jayda Coleman to cut the lead in half.
Then, in the third inning, Brady hit a three-run bomb to extend UCLA’s lead to 5-1 — the largest deficit the Sooners have faced all season. Oklahoma then got back in it when Grace Lyons put one over the fence to make it a 5-3 game. But Brady worked her magic again in the top of the seventh, hitting her second home run of the day to extend the Bruins lead to 7-3.
After Sooners coach Patty Gasso pulled May in the third inning following Brady’s home run, she put in Jordy Bahl. Bahl, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Freshman of the Year, has dealt with a forearm injury and only appeared in one game since May 6 when she got the last out of Oklahoma’s 13-2 win over Northwestern in its WCWS opener. ESPN reporter Holly Rowe said Gasso had a pitch count on Bahl, but she still managed to throw some great innings in high-leverage situations before giving up the late home run to Brady.