We're now down to four teams in the Women's College World Series, three from the Big 12* (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas) plus UCLA.
TEXAS-OKLAHOMA STATE (Game 2): Czech pitching again for Longhorns... After Texas doesn't score in top of the first, Oklahoma State's Chelsea Alexander leads off the game bottom of the first with a single, steals second and advances to third on errant throw, then scores on infield grounder, just beating the throw home. 1-0 Cowgirls... One-out walk for Texas in top of second... Nothing comes of it... One-out single for OSU in bottom of second... One out later, Kiley Naomi slugs two-run homer to left (video), making it 3-0 Cowgirls... As OSU comes up in bottom of third, Hailey Dolcini in to pitch for Longhorns... Karli Petty with two-run blast to right (video), making it 5-0 Cowgirls... Longhorns with runners on first and second with one out in top of fourth... Courtney Day with her second three-run homer of the day, cuts Texas deficit to 5-3 (video)... Top 5: Longhorns with potential tying runs on base (first and second) and potential go-ahead run at the plate with one out... Bella Dayton with a line-shot single to right, but in what some refer to as a "Little League Home Run," a series of errant throws allows both runners and Dayton to score on the play. Texas has overcome 5-0 deficit to lead 6-5... Bottom 5: OSU gets leadoff batter on via hit-by-pitch... Next batter bunts ball, but it bounces up and hits her leg. Review pending on whether batter was in or out of box when she made contact with ball... Contact ruled to have occurred out of box, so batter is declared out immediately (i.e., a dead ball) and runner has to go back to first... Next batter grounds into double-play to end the inning... Still 6-5 Horns after six complete... Aided by this Janae Jefferson catch in the bottom of the seventh, Texas wins 6-5 to advance to the championship round against Oklahoma...
TEXAS-OKLAHOMA STATE (Game 1): Scoreless after two one and a half innings (Texas as home team)... Longhorns strike first on Courtney Day three-run shot (video), 3-0 UT... Longhorns finish it off 5-0, with Estelle Czech keeping the Cowgirls in check...
UCLA-OKLAHOMA (Game 2): As I wrote below, I can't understand why the same teams (in this case, the Bruins and Sooners) are playing back-to-back games with minimal rest, instead of having the other two teams (Texas and Oklahoma State) play now? Anyway, UCLA is the home team in this contest. Holly Azevedo, who was stellar in relief in today's Game 1, is starting Game 2 for UCLA... Jayda Coleman with leadoff walk for OU... Jocelyn Alo doubles to the gap in right-center. Runners on second and third with none out... Tiare Jennings with three-run homer (video)... Out comes Bruin pitching coach Lisa Fernandez, but Azevedo staying in... Nothing further for Sooners... Hope Trautwein, OU's primary starter of late, in the circle... UCLA scoreless in bottom of first, stranding Bri Perez who had doubled... Top 2: OU starts off with pair of singles (the second on a bunt)... Pitching change, with Megan Faraimo coming in... Faraimo retires next two batters, but Alo crushes one to left to make it 6-0 (video)... Final is 15-0 Oklahoma, as Sooners will advance to the championship round...
UCLA-OKLAHOMA (Game 1): The Bruins and Sooners are just about to get started... The Sooners, who need just one victory today to advance to the championship round (as opposed to UCLA needing two over OU), are the home team... Nicole May the surprise starter for Oklahoma... Leadoff walk for UCLA... One out later, Delanie Wisz slugs a two-run homer (video)... Single and walk give UCLA runners on first and second with two outs, "Mashing" Megan Faraimo, who belted a home-run the other night, coming up... Hard grounder to third for force-out of lead runner... 2-0 UCLA as OU comes up in bottom of first... Jayda Coleman leads off with homer of her own (video)... Jocelyn Alo flies out... Nothing further for OU, as it cuts the Bruins' lead to 2-1... UCLA with runners at first and second with none out in top of third... Maya Brady knocks in a "bunch" of runs, three to be exact, with home-run blast (video), 5-1 Bruins... Jordy Bahl in to pitch... Still 5-1 Bruins, as Sooners come up in bottom of fourth... Seems like almost a given that the "sleeping giant" that is the Oklahoma offense will wake up at some point... Alo lines a single up the middle... Fly for first out... The giant comes alive with two-run shot by Grace Lyons (video), cutting Bruins' lead to 5-3... Another single to follow, Bruins meeting in the circle... Faraimo staying in... Fly for second out... Weak infield pop to end Sooner threat... Alo up as potential tying run with two out in bottom of fifth... Holly Azevedo, who entered at the start of the half-inning, strikes out Alo to end threat (video)... I was thinking perhaps UCLA should have walked Alo, but Tiare Jennings can slug, as well, and would have represented the go-ahead run if the Bruins walked Alo... Still 5-3 UCLA going to top of sixth... Leadoff single for Bruins... K for first out... Fly for second out, but throw to first to try to double off runner goes astray, runner taking second... Ground-out ends the half-inning... Jennings strikes out to begin bottom of sixth... Lyons up... Full count... Walk, bringing potential tying run to the plate in the person of Alyssa Brito... K for second out... Up comes Kinzie Hansen... Grounds out to third to end inning... UCLA takes 5-3 lead into top of seventh... Two-out walk for UCLA, bringing up Brady... Brady launches second homer of the day (video), giving Bruins some insurance at 7-3 (although nothing should be taken for granted with the Sooner offense!)... May re-entering to pitch... Fly to end half-inning... Never thought I'd be saying this, but OU down to its final three outs in bottom of seventh... Taylon Snow leads off, flies out to warning track in left for first out... Kylie Boone coming up... Pop to SS for second out... Up to Jana Johns to keep things alive... Grounder to short to end game... Only third loss on the season for Sooners. They will not equal the 1992 WCWS champion UCLA's (54-2) mark for fewest losses in a season... I'm sure that's of small concern to Oklahoma, who will face the Bruins in a half-hour in a winner-take-all semifinal clash... Why the heck don't they have Texas and Oklahoma State play now to give UCLA and OU a rest?
---
*Oklahoma and Texas are, of course, slated in the next couple of years to move to the SEC.