OKLAHOMA CITY — Kaitlyn Terry drove in the go-ahead run against her former team, and Texas Tech eliminated UCLA 8-7 in nine innings Sunday night in the Women’s College World Series.
The No. 11 Red Raiders will have to defeat top-seeded Alabama twice Monday to advance back to the championship series.
Terry, who transferred from UCLA after last season, also allowed just two runs and struck out seven in five innings after replacing ace Nijaree Canady.
“Her ball was really moving — she got so many swing-and-misses,” Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco said of Terry. “When you watch KT, you see the ultimate competitor. … I saw her and her greatness giving everything she had to our ballclub.”
Terry did it against a lineup that set a national record with 209 home runs this season, led by UCLA’s slugging duo of Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery. The two ended their college careers as the only teammates in Division I history to each hit 30 or more homers in the same season.
Grant broke the UCLA career record in Saturday’s rout of Arkansas with her 91st home run and finished the season with 42 homers, a Division I record.
Woolery hit two home runs Sunday, including a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh inning off Canady that sent the game to extra innings. Woolery also singled in a run in the ninth to also put Grant, the tying run, in scoring position.
But Canady struck out Bri Alejandre with the two UCLA stars on base on a full-count pitch to end the game.
“I’m grateful to have the opportunity to play with her and be able to be together, especially in that last moment,” Woolery said. “I felt like it was very poetic.”
