Friday, June 1
Oklahoma City, OK
6:30 PM
UCLA
58-5
6
vs
5
Florida
56-10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
UCLA
0
0
0
5
0
1
0
6
3
2
Florida
1
1
2
0
0
1
0
5
7
1
Redshirt sophomore Rachel Garcia struck out 15 for the second game in a row.
Photo by: Jazmine Sosa
Comeback Kids Strike Again to Move On to Semis
June 01, 2018 | Softball
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OKLAHOMA CITY - For the second night in a row, the third-seeded Bruins came back from a 4-0 deficit against a team from the Sunshine State, scoring five times in the fourth inning and going on to post a 6-5 victory over No. 2 Florida on Friday at Hall of Fame Stadium.
The Bruins (58-5) are 2-0 in the Women's College World Series and will be off on Saturday. UCLA will play Florida State in the National Semifinals on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. PT/2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN. The Bruins will need to win one of a potential two games on Sunday versus the Seminoles to advance to the Championship Series, which starts on Monday.
Redshirt sophomore Rachel Garcia (29-3) posted her second-straight game with 15 strikeouts, allowing five runs (four earned), seven hits and two walks in seven innings. She struck out the side in the first, fourth and seventh innings, two in the second and third and one in the fifth and sixth, recording a 1-2-3 frame in the seventh. The Bruins needed only three hits to record their six runs, with junior Taylor Pack and sophomore Bubba Nickles each hitting home runs and freshman Briana Perez notching a fifth-inning single to extend her hitting streak to 21 games.
Florida (56-10) jumped on the Bruins with single runs in the first and second and two in the third. The Gators scored their first run on a wild pitch, with Amanda Lorenz bringing across the game's initial score. In the second, Sophia Reynoso hit a solo homer to extend Florida's lead to 2-0. In the third, a two-run homer by Kayli Kvistad made it 4-0.
In the top of the fourth, the Bruins had just one hit, but would score five times to take the lead. With Perez at first after reaching on a fielder's choice, redshirt freshman Aaliyah Jordan was hit by a pitch, with a wild pitch moving both runners up a base. Then, a pair of free passes to Garcia and Nickles forced home Perez to make it 4-1. Senior Madeline Jelenicki followed with a sacrifice fly foul out down the left-field line, as Jordan came home to get the score to 4-2. That brought up Pack with two aboard, and the junior connected with a three-run homer to left field. It was her third bomb of the season to put the Bruins up by one.
UCLA tacked on a big insurance run in the sixth, as Nickles sent out her ninth homer of the season to left-center to put the Bruins ahead 6-4.
Florida got back to within a run on a solo homer by Jordan Roberts in the sixth, but Garcia would retired the final four batters of the game, including three by strikeout in the seventh to move the Bruins on to the National Semifinals.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Garcia, Rachel (29-3)
L: Kelly Barnhill (29-2)
Batting:
HR: Nickles, Bubba 1 ; Pack, Taylor 1
RBI: Nickles, Bubba 2 ; Jelenicki, Madeline 1 ; Pack, Taylor 3
SF: Jelenicki, Madeline 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Perez, Briana 1 ; Jordan, Aaliyah 1 ; Nickles, Bubba 2 ; Pack, Taylor 1 ; Shaw, Zoe 1
HBP: Jordan, Aaliyah 1
Batting:
HR: Kayli Kvistad 1 ; Jordan Roberts 1 ; Sophia Reynoso 1
RBI: Kayli Kvistad 2 ; Jordan Roberts 1 ; Sophia Reynoso 1
SH: Nicole DeWitt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Amanda Lorenz 2 ; Kayli Kvistad 1 ; Jordan Roberts 1 ; Sophia Reynoso 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
2
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
AB
4
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
P
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballUTIL
/ SoftballC
/ SoftballINF
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