OKLAHOMA CITY — UCLA’s bid for a thirteenth nationwide championship begins Thursday with a well-recognized opponent on the Girls’s Faculty World Sequence.
The Bruins (54-11) face Oregon at Devon Park at 6:30 p.m. (PST) on the primary day of a double-elimination event that includes Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Texas Tech.
Two finalists will play a best-of-three collection to find out the NCAA softball champion starting June 4.
The matchup between UCLA and Oregon would be the 131st assembly between present Massive Ten groups and former Pac-12 rivals. The Bruins have dominated the collection with 97 wins.
The groups performed as soon as beforehand within the World Sequence in 2015, with UCLA profitable, 7-1.
Extra not too long ago, Oregon (53-8) received two of three at house in opposition to the Bruins in April. Solely one of many video games was shut. The host Geese received by scores of 3-1 and 9-0. UCLA received the second sport, 8-0.
“What I learned most was our best is yet to come,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez stated Wednesday. “We didn’t play our best ball. We had a day. We had a day where we definitely showed up on day two and finished a game, but day three we didn’t finish out.
“At the end of the day, you go to every series with a goal of winning the series, and we walked away knowing we just didn’t play our best game. And I think that really set the tone for us getting ready to be able to come through in games like we did in regionals and super regionals because of those lessons learned.”
UCLA received back-to-back elimination video games within the Tremendous Regionals at South Carolina to advance to Oklahoma Metropolis. The Bruins had been all the way down to their last out in Sport 2 when Jordan Woolery hit a 2-run walk-off house run to cap a four-run rally.
The homer secured the biggest seventh-inning comeback in UCLA postseason historical past.
The ninth-seeded Bruins are led by Woolery, a USA Softball Collegiate Participant of the Yr High 10 finalist, and High 25 finalist Megan Grant.
The junior sluggers have mixed for 48 house runs and 165 runs batted in, which leads all duos nationally. Grant and Woolery’s mixed RBI whole is essentially the most by a pair of UCLA gamers in a single season.
Kaitlyn Terry and Taylor Tinsley will cleared the path within the circle for the Bruins.
Terry is 19-5 with a 2.62 ERA whereas Tinsley is 15-4 with a 2.62 ERA. Within the South Carolina tremendous regional, the pair allowed 4 runs on 12 hits — all singles
No. 16 seed Oregon, the Massive Ten regular-season champion, final performed within the World Sequence in 2018.
The Geese carry stability to the matchup, with 85 homers and practically three steals a sport. Oregon is the one group within the NCAA ranked within the prime 10 in scoring, ERA and fielding.
UCLA pitcher Kaitlyn Terry delivers the ball from the mound through the Bruins’ win over South Carolina Sunday.
(Ross Turteltaub / UCLA Athletics)
Oregon’s pitching ace is Lyndsey Grein, who’s 29-2-3 with a 2.08 ERA and 134 strikeouts with 41 walks.
She began all three video games within the Bruins’ collection and didn’t permit a run in 11.1 innings of labor.
Woolery had 4 hits and 4 RBIs within the collection whereas Grant went 1 for five with a double and three walks.
Each gamers are wanting ahead to the problem of going through Grein once more.
“Yeah, good pitching brings good competition,” Woolery stated. “So I think we just try to rise to the occasion. I think we’re just really grateful to face more great pitching once again this weekend, and I feel like it’s going to be a really great opportunity for both of us.”
Grant is seeking to get away on the massive stage.
“It’s great competition, and it’s a competitive battle at the end of the day,” she stated. “Going to win some, going to lose some, but I’m excited for the next opportunity to play again.”
The winner of tomorrow’s sport faces the winner of the sport between Mississippi and Texas Tech on Saturday at 4 p.m. (PST).
The loser between UCLA and Oregon performs the loser of Mississippi-Texas Tech at 6:30 p.m. (PST) Friday.
