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UCLA falls into loser’s bracket of WCWS after loss to Texas Tech
By Paul Harvey
Published:
UCLA started strong at this year’s Women’s College World Series, taking down Oregon in the series opener for both squads. Unfortunately, the Bruins ran into a buzzsaw in the form of Texas Tech and star pitcher NiJaree Canady on Saturday.
Offensively, the two sides traded runs in the 5th inning. Texas Tech speedster Makalya Garcia started things off with a brilliant delayed steal of home plate, catching the Bruins sleeping for the first run of the game.
However, UCLA struck quickly in the bottom half of the 5th inning. Kaniya Bragg caught up to a high rise ball, drilling a line drive opposite field home run to tie things up.
Unfortunately, that would be the end of the scoring for the Bruins. Hailey Toney broke the tie with a 2-out home run in the top of the 6th, taking a 3-2 pitch out to right center field.
The Red Raiders would tack on another run in the top of the 7th, but it would be more than enough for the 3-1 win:
To little surprise, the story of the game once again proved to be the work of Canady with the ace hurler pushing Texas Tech to within a win of the WCWS Finals. She went the distance yet again on Saturday with 7 innings of 1-run softball.
Canady struck out 7 batters while limiting the damage to 2 walks and 4 hits. The only real mistake she made all night was the blast by Bragg, and even that pitch appeared to be pretty well located. At the WCWS, Canady has now covered 14 innings in 2 complete games with just 1 run allowed and 17 strikeouts.
With the win, Texas Tech will advance to face the winner of Oklahoma vs. Oregon on Monday night. The Red Raiders will have 2 chances to win 1 game to advance to the final series.
Meanwhile, the Bruins drop into a Sunday elimination game with their backs against the wall. UCLA will face Tennessee at 3 pm ET on Sunday, with the winner advancing to face Texas on Monday afternoon.