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Sunday was a day of walk-off wins and huge home runs – both figuratively and literally – as the final two were set for the Championship Series to kickoff Monday night with Game 2 on Tuesday and, if needed, the deciding Game 3 on Wednesday.
Buckle your seatbelts, this should be fun!
But first… back to yesterday’s action…
With four teams remaining in the WCWS and the field set to be trimmed down to the final two, Sunday dawned with a minimum of two games to be played and a pair of if necessary matchups to take place in the evening, should they happen at all.
Side note: when you think about it, a day with the potential of “If” games can be a TV programmer’s biggest headache not knowing if you’ll had one or possibly two additional games in one day, but, boy, does it make it fun for fans!
So entering Sunday, the Final 4 as set with each of the quartet of teams having won at least one National Championship in the 10 years prior to this week’s final: #1 seed Oklahoma (2013, 2016, 2017), #2 UCLA (2019), #3 Washington (2019) and #8 Alabama (2012).
Only three teams—Florida State (2018), Florida (2014, 2015) and Arizona State (2011)—had won titles other than the remaining four who competed to reach today’s Championship Series.
Thus, the stage was set for the semifinal matchups which consisted of UCLA vs. Washington and Oklahoma vs. Alabama.
Oklahoma and UCLA, the top two seeds, needed one win to advance to the WCWS Championship Series.
Coming from the loser’s bracket, Washington (lost to Arizona in the first round of the WCWS) and Alabama (lost to Oklahoma in the first round also) needed to win the first semifinal game, force an if necessary matchup, and win that one, too, to move on in the Series.
Here’s a quick recap with highlights of the three games that took place getting us where we are today: Game 1 of the 2019 Women’s College World Series!
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Rachel Garcia Shows Why She’s the Two-Time National Player of the Year
It was the week’s third all-Pac-12 matchup in the day’s opener when UCLA and Washington took the field. The pitching matchup was Rachel Garcia against Gabbie Plain and a pitcher’s duel was expected.
And a phenomenal pitcher’s duel was what we got.
Garcia and Plain went at it for six scoreless innings with both teams unable to push a single run across the plate. After a leadoff walk in the home half of the seventh, Washington pulled Plain from the scoreless contest as Taran Alvelo entered the game. Alvelo shut down the would-be Bruin rally and sent the game to the eighth.
For the next 2 1/2 innings, the scoreless tie would hold. Garcia allowed baserunners in each inning, including a handful of two-on, on-out jams, but got out of each one without allowing a run.
In the bottom of the 10th, Alvelo allowed a leadoff single, engaging a quick hook as Plain re-entered the game.
The removal of Alvelo brought some questions to those in the press box, as she had been cruising and gotten out of a jam or two during her few innings in the game.
The move would come back to bite the Huskies four batters later as Plain served up a three-run walk-off home run to Garcia that landed in the center of the left field bleachers, well over the outfield fence.
With the win, the UCLA Bruins vaulted themselves into the WCWS Championship Series for the first time since 2010, which also happens to be the year of their last national championship victory.
🎥 #WCWS Highlights – Game 11
Rachel Garcia threw 10 shutout innings and hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the tenth inning as (2) @UCLASoftball eliminates (3) @UWSoftball in an instant classic. pic.twitter.com/q0lwaeF2mc
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) June 3, 2019
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Alabama Gets Walk-Off Single from Hardy to Push a Deciding Game 3
In the second semifinal matchup, it was a rematch of one of Thursday’s opening-round games when Oklahoma took on Alabama.
The game was another scoreless pitcher’s duel between Sooners ace Giselle Juarez and Alabama’s freshman sensation Montana Fouts.
Similar to the first game of the day, the game was a scoreless tie through the regulation seven innings, buoyed by some solid defensive plays and impressive pitching by both sides.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, with her Tide the designated home team for the game, senior Caroline Hardy entered as a pinch hitter, the role she has thrived in for much of the season.
With a runner on second base, Hardy hit a single up the middle and the winning run came home to score just ahead of the throw, giving Alabama the 1-0 win in eight innings and forcing a winner-take-all game on Sunday evening.
🎥 #WCWS Highlights – Game 12
(8) @AlabamaSB battled (1) @OU_Softball to extra innings before coming away with a 1-0 win that would keep their season alive in the Women's College World Series. pic.twitter.com/ZdstgFfHPr
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) June 3, 2019
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Oklahoma Wins “If” Game, Moves to Finals
In the final game, Oklahoma again sent Giselle Juarez to the circle for the start, while Alabama countered with former junior college transfer Krystal Goodman.
For the first time all day, the scoreless tie was quickly broken in this one as an RBI double from Caleigh Clifton scored the Sooners’ first run in the bottom of the first inning and a wild pitch later scored Clifton to give OU the 2-0 lead.
Alabama senior catcher Reagan Dykes countered with a solo home run in the next half-inning to break the goose egg on the scoreboard for her own team, though that was the last scoring until the fifth inning.
Oklahoma brought in Mariah Lopez to relieve Juarez in the circle and she held the Tide batters in check throughout.
In the fifth, sophomore slugger Jocelyn Alo hit a towering two-run home run to dead center field that was high and long—some seasoned observers noted that the moonshot looked to have cleared a barrier behind the outfield grandstands that was some 300 feet from home plate!
Alo’s home run increased the Sooners’ lead to 4-1, but in the sixth, Alabama scored two on a Skylar Wallace home run, as the freshman cut the deficit to a single run.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Sooners broke the game open with three runs, a rally that was started with a two-run home run by Nicole Mendes.
After an Alabama pitching change with Sarah Cornell entering the game, Oklahoma added another run on a solo shot by shortstop Grace Lyons.
The game would end in a 7-3 final score in favor of Oklahoma, sending the Sooners to the Championship Series.
For the first time since 2005, the teams with the #1 and #2 overall seeds will play for the national championship.
🎥 #WCWS Highlights – Game 13
(1) @OU_Softball defeats (8) @AlabamaSB, 7-3, advancing to the Women's College World Series championship series versus UCLA. pic.twitter.com/2lt0vjN7Az
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) June 3, 2019
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Championship Finals (Best-of-3)
- Game 1: UCLA vs. Oklahoma | 7:30 p.m. EST on Monday, June 3 | ESPN
- Game 2: UCLA vs. Oklahoma | 8:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, June 4 | ESPN
- Game 3: UCLA vs. Oklahoma | 8:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, June 5 | ESPN