Liberty eliminates No. 2 UCLA in 2023 NCAA softball regionals

The second-seeded UCLA Bruins were bounced in stunning fashion in the regional round of this year’s NCAA softball tournament.

UCLA, which was hosting the regional, gave up the go-ahead run to Liberty in the top of the seventh and fell to the Lady Flames, 2-1, on Saturday night. The Bruins went 0-2 in the tournament and became the first national seed to be eliminated this May. Some players were distraught and others in shock as ESPN’s cameras panned to the UCLA dugout in the moments after Saturday’s score went final.

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Statistically, the Los Angeles regional was the toughest of this year’s 16 regionals, in terms of average RPI (31.5), combined wins (171) and combined winning percentage (.770). Though UCLA is one of softball’s blue bloods and this year’s squad is led by ace pitcher Megan Faraimo — who did not start Saturday’s game — and Pac 12 Player of the Year Maya Brady, this was never going to be a cakewalk.

Liberty’s Rachel Roupe accounted for both runs off UCLA’s Brooke Yanez — one on a solo shot in the fourth inning and the go-ahead run with aggressive baserunning in the seventh, beating a throw to the plate on KC Machado’s single.

SAFE! Machado delivers and Roupe beats the tag! It's 2-1 Flames over UCLA in the 7th!

📲 @espn
📺 https://t.co/SXkLjayCUI @NCAASoftball | #RoadToWCWS pic.twitter.com/77q1gTVCGT

— Liberty Softball (@LibertySB) May 21, 2023

Still, the Bruins’ elimination is a shocker. UCLA has reached the Women’s College World Series in every season since 2015. It has been 10 years since the Bruins have ended a softball season without playing in at least a super regional round.

Liberty is coached by Dot Richardson, the former UCLA great who led the Bruins to their very first NCAA title in 1982. She has coached the Lady Flames for a decade, taking the program to new heights (and new conference affiliations) while returning it into an NCAA tournament mainstay these last couple of seasons.

Last year, then-No. 2 Florida State failed to advance to the super regional round. The Bruins tie those Seminoles as the highest-seeded teams to lose in the regional round in the tournament’s history.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

How this affects the championship chase

The Bruins were one of the very few teams that I thought could potentially challenge Oklahoma … on an off day for the Sooners … with everything going absolutely right for UCLA. Brady has been spectacular all season long, and Faraimo has been one of the best pitchers in the country for years. Maybe they wouldn’t beat Oklahoma, but this seemed like a team that could push ’em.

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Instead, UCLA loses its final three games of the season and won’t even come close to sniffing a shot at the Sooners in Oklahoma City as they go for a three-peat. No. 3 Florida State is still out there, taking care of its own business in Tallahassee, so my other top contender remains in the tournament. But I’ll still take Oklahoma over the field.

(Photo: Emily Wydo / Liberty Athletics)

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