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It may not have been as dominant as the series of fireworks they staged during their incredible win in match 1 of 16-3, but it was much more dramatic. The UCLA Bruins found the bats when they needed them, they again hit four dingers and took it to seventh place for a 5-4 win against a team of Crushed Oklahoma who was scuffed and tried to stay in on Tuesday night. The sweep gave the Bruins their first championship since 2010 and their 12th title overall, the largest number of softball history in college.
Even though this game was much closer than its predecessor, it seemed that the Bruins would be on the verge of another explosion after their first two match hitters – Bubba Nickles and Briana Perez –back-to-back dingers in the bottom of the first. But the Sooners managed to score the player of the year and toss UCLA pitcher Rachel Garcia, just enough to stay alive. A solo shot of Syd Romero reduce the lead to 2-1 in the third and a series of strokes in the fourth drew three.
Again, in the fifth, UCLA delivered what could have been a coup de grace, when Brianna Tautalafua hits her second dinger in as many nights. But as the Sooners qualified for the seventh final, senior Shay Knighten created another clutch game to end her career, lifting a ball just beyond the center court wall to miraculously equalize the match 4-4.
UCLA, however, had the decisive blow by making a winning streak in the bottom half. With two outs and a player in second place, the shallow single to the left of Kinsley Washington offered Jacqui Prober barely enough time to beat the throw at the plate and win the match.
This hit denied Oklahoma's senior class, which included some excellent high school students of all time at Romero and Knighten, which would have been their third championship. Instead, UCLA finally managed to come back with a title after four years of failures at the College World Series, and the Bruins reaffirmed their legendary place as queens of the sport.
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