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Maya Brady powers UCLA to winner-take-all game against Oklahoma

Emma Hruby
·2 min read

UCLA’s Maya Brady hit two home runs to help lift the Bruins to a win against Oklahoma in Monday’s early game. (Brett Rojo/USA TODAY Sports)

UCLA is still alive after taking down Oklahoma 7-3 in their first semifinal contest of the Women’s College World Series on Monday.

With the win, the Bruins forced a winner-take-all game against the Sooners, which will start at 3:19 p.m. ET Monday. The winner of that game will advance to the WCWS finals, where the team will face off against the winner of the semifinal matchup between Texas and Oklahoma State.

The Bruins handed the Sooners their first loss of the postseason.

After UCLA got out to a 2-0 lead off a Delanie Wisz home run, Oklahoma’s Jayda Coleman launched a solo home run to bring her team within one.

The Bruins then extended their lead to 5-1 lead in the top of the third, with Maya Brady firing off a homer to bring three runs in.

The Sooners would claw their way back again, narrowing the score to 5-3 one inning later, before Brady added two more in the top of the seventh. She blasted her second home run of the day to make it 7-3 for UCLA.

“[Oklahoma is] a great team, so we knew that we’d have to get runs on the board. Just freeing it up at this point, there’s nothing to lose,” Brady told Holly Rowe after the game. “It really helps that our backs are against the wall and I just wanted to get it done for Holly [Azevedo].”

Pitchers Megan Faraimo and Holly Azevedo split the innings for the Bruins, with Faraimo allowing just three runs against the high-powered Oklahoma offense.

For the Sooners, Nicole May pitched just 2.1 innings, allowing five runs before being pulled in favor of Jordy Bahl. Bahl pitched 4.2 innings, allowing two runs.

As the Bruins look to knock off top-seeded Oklahoma once more, they will have the continued support of Brady’s uncle — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.

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