No. 2 UCLA headlines the field at this year's Judi Garman Classic, as the Bruins (17-1) look to bounce back from their 14-0 shellacking at the hands of Oklahoma last Sunday. The only other Top 25 teams in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll traveling to Fullerton, California for the Garman Classic are No. 15 LSU and No. 20 Oregon. The other squads in the 12-team field are Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Fullerton, Central Florida, Fresno St., Loyola Marymount, Michigan, Minnesota, San Jose St., and Seattle. Each team will play five games in the tournament.
Washington used a first-inning grand-slam homer from pitcher Danielle Lawrie and some late insurance runs to defeat Georgia by a score of 9-3 in tonight's late game. The win gives U-Dub a spot in the best-of-three championship series against Florida starting Monday (Georgia had defeated Washington earlier today, 9-8 in nine innings, to force tonight's rematch). The Huskies thus claimed "top dog" status over Georgia on their side of the bracket. Florida got a two-out grand-slam homer from Ali Gardiner in the bottom of the seventh to edge Alabama 6-5. The Crimson Tide made a strong recovery in the tournament after looking "not ready for prime time" in an opening-round loss to Michigan. But, as a result of tonight's heartbreaking loss to the Gators, Bama is now eliminated. Lowrie's and Gardiner's grand-slams are among four that have been hit so far in this World Series.