Make it an even dozen national championships for UCLA softball after their dramatic triumph in the 2019 Women's College World Series.
Kinsley Washington hit a tiebreaking single in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday to give the Bruins a 5-4 Game 2 victory over Oklahoma, a sweep of the best-of-three championship series and the program's first title since 2010.
Washington, the daughter of former UCLA football and NFL player James Washington, brought home pinch runner Jacqui Prober with the winning run. She finished the series 6 for 8 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
WALK OFF FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 😱😱😱#WCWS | @UCLASoftball pic.twitter.com/LbILY0t4S5
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) June 5, 2019
UCLA was an out away from finishing the series in the top of the seventh, but Oklahoma's Shay Knighten's homered to center field off UCLA pitcher Rachel Garcia to tie the game 4-4. Knighten and Garcia are friends, and Garcia could only laugh after Kinghten's drive cleared the fence.
ROAD TO OMAHA: NCAA baseball tournament bracket
"I just laughed because I knew in my mind, I was like, 'Well, that was a totally missed pitch,'" Garcia told ESPN's Holly Rowe in a postgame interview.
Garcia, the NCAA's National Player of the Year, was chosen WCWS Most Outstanding Player after going 5-0 in the circle during the tournament. She was also a member of the UCLA team that was eliminated by Florida State in last year's Series.
"(I've) been preparing for this since Day 1 and just to see it all pay off . . . all the coaches, my teammates, we fought every single day just get to this moment and just to see everything pay off . . . I can't even imagine. I'm at a loss for words right now," Garcia told Rowe.
