The Seminoles clawed all the way to the championship series when no one believed in them but themselves. We don't stop fighting, we don't know how. The only other team to win six postseason elimination games is UCLA in and in Florida State's win makes it the fifth team to make the finals after losing on Day 1, and the first since Arizona in Since Washington beat Oklahoma earlier in the day, the second game between the Bruins and Seminoles kicked off about an hour after the first one ended.
But for UCLA, what looked to be an iffy situation became a disaster. Bruins ace and espnW player of the year Rachel Garcia, who pitched all six innings in the first game, pitched only one inning before being replaced by senior Selina Ta'amilo in the second. Ta'amilo gave up a home run and a double, lasting just three batters before Garcia returned to the circle. Garcia, however, didn't finish the inning after she gave up a home run. It was musical chairs for UCLA in the circle, and it was clear that the Bruins simply did not have the depth on this day.
They've been the spark plug from this circle for this team. Not having a suitable alternative to Garcia at the time when they desperately needed one ended up being the death knell to UCLA's season. The Florida State players never counted themselves out, though, and that proved to be all the encouragement they needed.
It is also why there will be evening softball on semifinal Sunday of the Women's College World Series. Florida State was knocked into the losers bracket on the opening day of the tournament by a late home run from UCLA. The Seminoles are on the brink of completing the long road back after freshman Elizabeth Mason's two-out, two-strike home run in the bottom of the sixth inning against national player of the year Rachel Garcia forced a winner-take-all game Sunday night.
Garcia gave the Bruins a lead in the third inning with an RBI single, but the Seminoles kept giving themselves chances to get back in the game against her. They stranded one runner in the bottom of the third inning, two more in the fourth inning and one in the fifth inning. When the bottom of the sixth inning began with UCLA center fielder Bubba Nickles reaching above the outfield wall to keep a Dani Morgan fly ball from becoming a home run, it felt like Garcia's day to escape jams.
Then the No. Now Garcia will presumably be asked to pitch both ends of a Sunday doubleheader for the second time this postseason. This time she kept the ball firmly in her hands as she stood up. And as she sprinted toward the dugout. And as she crossed the lip of the infield. This time she didn't let it go until she spiked it in the pitching circle. There were questions Thursday about whether or not Melhart actually completed a diving catch that played a prominent role in consigning Oklahoma to the losers bracket.
There wasn't any question Sunday when she dove to catch Shay Knighten's liner and stranded the tying runs on base in the top of the fifth inning. Just as there can't be many questions left about Washington's credentials after the Huskies beat the Sooners again, this time , to make sure college softball will have a new champion.
The spike that followed Melhart's catch Sunday was the punctuation mark on a game and a week in which pitching and defense carried Washington to the championship round of the Women's College World Series for the first time since its national championship.
This team's strength is pitching and defense, and it showed both in shutting out for the second time a team that had been shut out just once in its previous 42 World Series games. Obviously our defense speaks for itself in terms of creating energy behind each pitcher and having the ability to get outs any way possible. I think it gives the pitchers a lot of confidence.
Washington played to its strengths and made a semifinal statement with its pitching the last time it advanced beyond the semifinals in Needing one win against an opponent that needed to beat them twice, the Huskies started Danielle Lawrie in the opening game against Georgia. And Heather Tarr left her out there to throw all pitches in a loss. Then Lawrie went back out and threw more pitches to win the second game of the day. But in a nod to the different strengths of this team, and perhaps the changing face of the sport with regard to pitching philosophy, Tarr didn't start freshman Gabbie Plain on Sunday.
Plain started and won each of Washington's first two games, but Taran Alvelo got the ball Sunday. Alvelo's own history in the World Series came a year ago, when she had nothing left in the tank in a semifinal lost to Florida. This time, after battling an injury through the second half of the regular season and yielding to Plain for much of the first two games, she looked ready for the challenge.
Just as Plain sent a message when she set the Sooners down in order in the top of the first inning Thursday, Alvelo did in this game -- on three fewer pitches than Plain used. And I knew what my part was and I knew I had to go out there and execute. The Huskies have two aces. They have a defense that can make plays like Melhart made Thursday and Sunday.
And not even the two-time defending champions could do anything about that. Given the era in which these Sooners play, underscored by the strength of the field this week, their three-year run remains among the most impressive in college softball history.
When UCLA won three in a row or when Arizona played for a championship five years in a row, those teams didn't have to come through a super regional round. They didn't have to play a best-of-three championship series, as the Sooners did to win their titles the past two seasons. And while the SEC bowed out of this postseason rather meekly, there weren't contenders from coast to coast.
Oklahoma had to deal with all of that in its run. And for a moment Saturday night, after winning two elimination games to reach the semifinals, it looked like momentum would carry the Sooners again. So has Keilani [Ricketts], no doubt about it. But when people recognize pitchers in this game, they recognize strikeouts.
They don't recognize craftiness, guts, the will. She is one of the best this sport has ever seen, and people should understand that. The season was on the line, and Oregon needed to draw the line. So when the Seminoles' Jessie Warren hit a hard drive to shortstop and the Ducks' DJ Sanders leaped to make the grab, it looked for all the world like the momentum could be shifting.
Sanders looked to second, but the runner was planted on the base. She looked to first, and launched the ball toward Mia Camuso, hoping to catch Elizabeth Mason as Mason returned to the bag. The throw missed its target, and both runners advanced. That summed up this game -- this week -- for Oregon. The Ducks would get an opportunity to make a statement and then squander it.
The top-seeded Ducks fell to the Seminoles. Oregon was never able to find its groove in Oklahoma City. Even in its first game against Arizona State, which the Ducks won , both Elish and Kleist looked a bit shaky. All six of those runs were earned.
It was the same dreaded number against Pac rival Washington on Friday. Kleist and Elish combined to give up six earned runs in the Ducks' loss. Her efficiency allowed the Seminoles, the ACC champions, to punch their ticket to the semifinals, taking down an opponent who won the brutal Pac Oklahoma's sensational slugger unloaded the only ball in the strike zone she saw Saturday night over the left-field bleachers, never mind the left-field wall. And with that, the Gators summarily waved their white flag and intentionally walked Alo the rest of the way.
Alo's first-inning shot propelled the fourth-seeded Sooners to a win over No. This time around, the Sooners left the theatrics back in Norman. Last year, Oklahoma swept Florida in the national championship series, but not before a inning, Game 1 classic. Saturday, the Sooners instead simply fell back on the dominance of Alo and tireless workhorse ace Paige Parker.
After hurling a complete game earlier Saturday in an elimination game against Arizona State, Parker came back to throw more pitches for her fourth complete-game victory of the postseason.
To avoid giving up another, Florida coach Tim Walton intentionally walked Alo her next two at-bats, even with runners on base. The ploy paid off initially, as Shay Knighten struck out swinging to end the third inning. It's still a risk, but that's the kind of the respect Jocelyn is getting.
But in the fifth, the Gators walked Alo again, this time to load the bases. And although Knighten struck out again, the pitch got away from Florida catcher Janell Wheaton, allowing Oklahoma's second and final run to score. Alo and the Sooners now will get their own shot at revenge Sunday against Washington, which shut out Oklahoma on Friday. Florida State came to Oregon's rescue two days ago. Now, the Seminoles will try to end the Ducks' season.
Saturday at Hall of Fame Stadium, No. And a showdown of programs connected by a borrowed bus -- and much more. Stranded, Oregon coach Mike White turned to the Florida State coaching staff, with whom he's become close, thanks to a longtime friendship with Florida State assistant and fellow New Zealand native Travis Wilson. The Seminoles answered White's call for help, immediately sending their own bus to pick up the Ducks and shuttle them to their game.
Oregon infielder Mia Camuso had left her jersey in the borrowed bus. So Florida State coach Lonni Alameda grabbed it and drove it to her before first pitch. You saw that right. Florida State pitcher Meghan King, who picked up her 23rd win in the victory against Georgia, and Oregon catcher Gwen Svekis, who celebrated her 22nd birthday on Friday, were battery mates in high school at St.
Thomas Aquinas in Florida, where they won a state championship together. This time, they'll be in opposite dugouts. Both trying to chase an NCAA title. Behind Parker's dominant outing and Alo's national-best 29th home run, fourth-seeded Oklahoma sent No. One day after failing to score in the tournament opener against Washington, the Sooners struggled once again to produce the clutch hit early against Sun Devils ace G Juarez. Through the first two innings, Oklahoma put three runners in scoring position, yet failed to bring any of them home.
But on the first pitch of the third inning, Alo cranked an opposite-field solo homer over the right-field wall. It eased pressure in the Oklahoma dugout and gave Parker all the run support she would need. The left-hander completely shut down the Sun Devils, tossing her sixth complete-game shutout of the year and second of the postseason to move to on the season. Parker struck out seven, walked two and gave up only two hits: a single through the glove of first baseman Shay Knighten that was originally ruled an error, and a weak pop-up in front of the catcher.
In staving off elimination, the two-time defending national champion Sooners next face Florida at 7 p. ET later Saturday. Oklahoma took down the Gators last year in the national championship series. The Sooners' sweep included an epic inning thriller in Game 1. Instead, it was a night where the batters made the pitchers pay for costly mistakes in UCLA's victory.
To be sure, Barnhill and Garcia got theirs. The reigning Garcia and former Barnhill players of the year combined for a WCWS-record 28 strikeouts, including Barnhill's impressive stretch of eight straight to start the game. But if the batters weren't striking out, they were sending balls over the fence. Garcia, who had given up six homers all season coming into the game, surrendered three.
Barnhill allowed two. And then there was everything else. Garcia threw a wild pitch in the first inning that scored Florida's first run. Barnhill had a particularly rough stretch in the fourth that included a throwing error to first base, an illegal pitch, a hit batter and giving up a three-run homer. The tricky thing for Barnhill is that even with the fourth inning, she still arguably pitched the better game. She gave up only three hits.
And of the six UCLA runs, only one was earned. Compare that with Garcia, who gave up seven hits and four earned runs, well above her 1. And yet it was Garcia walking away with the win to improve to on the season and keep UCLA in the winners bracket.
Barnhill took just her second loss but left the Gators one defeat from elimination. Both Garcia and Barnhill, however, did their jobs down the stretch. In the seventh, Barnhill struck out two of the final three batters she faced. To add another twist, Gators coach Tim Walton was ejected during the top of the seventh.
Then Garcia struck out the side to put the game away for the Bruins. And I'm so proud of Rachel. Washington is right where it looked like the Huskies would be for much of this season, a game away from the championship series with a day to rest and a loss to spare.
They also pulled off their second upset of consequence in as many days at the Women's College World Series to get there.
So it goes for a team that spent more time this season ranked No. But after a victory against top-seeded Oregon, its first win in four tries this season against its Pac rival, Washington will play for a national championship unless it is beaten twice Sunday by a team still to be determined. The Huskies could be forgiven for being a little defensive about their bona fides, but they are instead letting their defense do the talking.
It spoke loudly in the decisive fifth inning Friday. For the opening innings, the two defenses traded highlights. FSU previously did this in its national title run. The Seminoles enter Thursday's championship game against the Sooners as a fairly heavy underdog. So what are the keys to the Seminoles pulling off another upset -- what would be their seventh of the NCAA Tournament -- to bring home the gold?
Much has been made, and rightly so, about Oklahoma's potent offense. The Sooners enter Thursday's game averaging Through two games of the championship series, OU has scored 10 runs. Four of those, however, came in a single inning of Wednesday's win.
For long stretches of the first two games, the FSU pitching staff has done well to limit what the Sooners can accomplish offensively. Through five innings Wednesday, Kathryn Sandercock had allowed just one run on three hits, preserving FSU's narrow lead.
OU broke through against both of them in the later innings, but the success both these pitchers had in the early innings breeds confidence that they can limit what the Sooners can do one more time.
Possibly the biggest shift from the opening game of the series to game two was how FSU was unable to implement its aggressive baserunning. Facing an OU team that had allowed just four stolen bases all season, the Seminoles had three stolen bases Tuesday, stringing together hits while playing the small-ball that has gotten them to this stage.
Wednesday, the Seminoles were never able to string together enough hits to be able to put that pressure on the Sooners on the basepaths. The Seminoles were 1 for 8 with runners on base. Game pressure firmly on the Sooners. The Sooners are the team that were expected to be here, having won their first 36 games and lost just twice all season entering the WCWS.
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