UCLA rides home run spree vs. Oklahoma to win Women's College World Series

UCLA picked up Game 2 of the championship series of the Women’s College World Series where it left off in Game 1.

On the heels of a 16-3 win over the Sooners to open the best-of-three series, the Bruins started Tuesday’s Game 2 with a power display, opening the first inning with back-to-back home runs en route to a 5-4 win to secure the national championship.

Back-to-back to start the game

Bubba Nickles blasted a 1-0 pitch from Giselle Juarez over the left field wall to get the scoring started.

Briana Perez followed up with a center-field shot of her own to open up a 2-0 lead.

The opening shots set the tone for the win that saw the Bruins score four of their five runs with solo homers.

Aaliyah Jordan’s third-inning home run gave the Bruins a 3-1 lead, but the Sooners would rally to tie the game with two runs in the top of the fourth.

But Brianna Tautalafua led off the fifth inning with another solo shot to retake the lead.

Sooners rally in 7th

But the Sooners weren’t done. Bruins starting pitcher and national player of the year Rachel Garcia looked en route to a 1-2-3 inning to close the seventh and win the game. Oklahoma’s Shay Knighten had other ideas, hitting a solo home run with two outs to make the Bruins earn the win at the plate in the bottom of the inning.

Earn the win they did.

Jacqui Prober reached first base on a leadoff single to start the inning and was standing on second with two outs after advancing on a one-out bunt.

Walkoff from Washington

Kinsley Washington didn’t find the power that had supplied all of the Bruins runs up to that point, but she didn’t need to when her blooper landed just beyond the infield to send Prober home for the game-winning run to secure UCLA’s 12th national championship.

Garcia earned Most Outstanding Player honors thanks to her 5-0 record on the mound and two home runs with eight RBI with her bat during WCWS play.

She got a lot of help from her teammates at the plate on Tuesday and needed every bit of it.

“I think our game plan was to punch first and we did,” Garcia told ESPN after the game. “To know that my team had my back in any situation was absolutely huge.”

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