No. 7 Tennessee walk off No. 9 UCLA to keep WCWS title hopes alive

Field Level Media|published: Sun 1st June, 19:02 2025

Tennessee's McKenna Gibson (24) slides into home for a score as UCLA's Alexis Ramirez (28) tries to place the tag in the first inning of the Women's College World Series softball game between the UCLA Bruins and the Tennessee Volunteers at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Sunday, June, 1, 2025.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Laura Mealer delivered a walk-off RBI single in the ninth inning to give seventh-seeded Tennessee a 5-4 win over ninth-seeded UCLA in a Women's College World Series elimination game on Sunday.

The Lady Vols (47-16) will take on Texas on Monday, needing to beat the Longhorns twice to advance to the best-of-three WCWS championship series. Tennessee won two of three against Texas in the regular season.

The Bruins' season ends at 55-13.

Taylor Pannell led off the bottom of the ninth with a double off the top of the wall in left. After an infield pop-up for the first out, UCLA intentionally walked Sophia Nugent and McKenna Gibson to load the bases before Mealer drove home Pannell on Taylor Tinsley's 2-2 pitch to end the game.

UCLA was down to its final out in the seventh before Jordan Woolery kept the game alive with a single to left-center.

Then Megan Grant jumped on Karlyn Pickens' first pitch, driving it out to right-center to tie the game 4-4.

But the drama wasn't done.

Grant missed home plate initially, stepping over it, and on-deck hitter Alexis Ramirez grabbed Grant's arm amid the celebration around the plate until Grant touched home.

But after a review that lasted nearly 15 minutes, umpires ruled that Grant had missed the plate and been assisted but that the play wasn't reviewable.

Pannell finished 3-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored. Pickens (25-10) went the distance for Tennessee, striking out seven.

Woolery went 4-for-4 with a double for UCLA, while Jessica Clements added two hits.

--Field Level Media

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