Women's College World Series 2021 -- Survival Saturday

Every team playing today has one loss in the tournament, so every game is an elimination game. Hence, the nickname "Survival Saturday."

Oklahoma State-Florida State

In a game that didn't start until almost midnight (after many of us had gone to sleep), Florida State eliminated Oklahoma State, 4-2...

Oklahoma-UCLA

No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 2 UCLA, a rematch of the last WCWS championship round (2019), is what many fans have been expecting to see -- just not in the 2021 losers' bracket! Weather issues have delayed tonight's start, however, until 8:20 Central at the earliest.

UCLA's Rachel Garcia, who I would expect to see pitch tonight, threw two games against Oklahoma in the 2019 WCWS (a Bruin sweep), facing many of the same batters she would face tonight (e.g., Jocelyn Alo, Nicole Mendes, and Lynnsie Elam). (Even if Bruin coach Kelly Inouye-Perez wanted to switch to Megan Faraimo, as she did for Game 2 of the super-regionals vs. Virginia Tech, Faraimo currently has what is described as a "hand injury," possibly a broken hand.) In 2019, Garcia recorded the following pitching lines against the Sooners: 

GAME 1......ip....h...2B...3B...HR...r...er...bb...so...wp...bk...hbp...ibb...ab...bf...fo...go...np Garcia........5.0....3.....0......1.....2....1...1....1......0.....0.....0......0.......0.....18...19....9.....6....61 

GAME 2......ip....h...2B...3B...HR...r...er...bb...so...wp...bk...hbp...ibb...ab...bf...fo...go...np  Garcia.........7.0...8.....2......0.....2....4....4....3.....4.....2.....0......1.......1.....29...33....9....8...131 

In 12 innings combined, Garcia gave up 11 hits in 47 at-bats, meaning that the Sooners hit only .234 off of her. OU amassed 27 total bases due to hits (4 HR, 1 triple, 2 doubles, and 4 singles) in those 47 AB, yielding a slugging percentage of .574 off Garcia. Finally, Garcia recorded a total of four strikeouts and four walks in the two games, both pretty low for 12 total innings...

Finally ready to go, with UCLA the visitors... Top one: Bruins coming off being "perfectoed" by Alabama's Montana Fouts... Nicole May pitching for OU... No perfecto or even a no-hitter for May, as Garcia lines a two-out single to center... Deep fly-out to center ends half-inning... Nothing for OU in bottom half... Top two: UCLA with runners on first and second with none out on single and slap one-hopper that skips out of OU 2B-person's glove... Bunt advances runners to second and third, one out... Weak bloop pop-up to first for second out... K ends threat... Bottom second: Leadoff single for Sooners on flare to left... Pop-up to third for first out... Backward K after 3-0 count for second out... K swinging to end inning...

Garcia's three-run homer for UCLA in the third has been overcome by Sooner tallies of two runs in the third, two in the fourth, and one in the fifth. OU leads 5-3, batting in bottom of the sixth... Leadoff double for OU... Now first and second after walk... After sac-fly sends runner to third and other runner steals second, double by Kinzie Hansen brings both runners in and ends the evening for Bruin pitcher Garcia. 7-3 Sooners... Barring a seismic UCLA rally, Garcia's collegiate career will be over, as well... 10-3 Sooners is your final, eliminating the Bruins...

Florida State-Arizona

Wildcats lead 2-0, on a Malia Martinez solo-shot in the top of the third and a small-ball rally in the fourth (walk, single, single, sac fly)... Seminoles bat in the bottom of the fourth... A two-out rally, consisting of a single and back-to-back walks, loads the bases for FSU. Oklahoma-transfer Mariah Lopez replaces Alyssa Denham in the circle for Arizona... Fly-out to center ends Noles' threat...

Top five: Zona gets first two runners on base (first and second), one via SS error and the other via an infield hit the SS couldn't handle... Runners bunted to second and third, one out... Slugger Jessie Harper intentionally walked to load bases... Little flare to right side caught by 1B-person, two outs... Grounder to pitcher ends threat... Bottom five: One-out HBP for FSU... Ground-out to short advances runner to second on fielder's choice... Three-pitch K ends inning...

Nothing for Arizona in top of sixth... One-out walk and HBP for FSU in bottom half... K for second out... Noles with only two hits on the day, not taking advantage of runners on base... No sooner do I say that than Dani Morgan blasts three-run shot to left (video), giving FSU 3-2 lead... Errant throw to first gives FSU a runner on first... K ends inning...

Wildcats coming up in top of seventh, down to last three outs of season... Leadoff infield single (sinking liner to short, hits ground, runner beats throw to first)... Grounder to short gets force at second, one out... Reyna Carranco double (video) ties the game, 3-3... Tough day for FSU shortstop, tough hop off her face/neck area for infield single, lead runner held at second... Grounder to first advances runners to second and third, two outs... Ground-out to second ends rally... Bottom seven: Seminoles get leadoff single to right... Fly to left for first out... Grounder to second. 2B-person tosses to SS to try to get lead runner (which was going to be a tough proposition in any case), but throw goes into outfield, allowing lead runner to go to third (with batter staying on first). Winning run on third... Deep fly-out to left (almost to warning track) wins the game for FSU, 4-3 (video)...

Oklahoma-Georgia

The first team to be going home is Georgia, an 8-0 run-rule loser to Oklahoma. I'm sure no team wanted to be the one to face the No. 1-seeded Sooners immediately on the rebound from their stunning upset loss on Thursday!