UCLA ends Lady Dogs' run at WCWS

OKLAHOMA CITY - The secrets of softball success at UCLA continue to be a mystery - even to the latest bunch of Bruins chasing a championship.

Samantha Camuso crushed a three-run homer and B.B. Bates hit a two-run shot as UCLA moved into the Women's College World Series finals for the first time in five years with a 5-2 win over Georgia on Sunday.

"It's a great feeling. It feels like it's been a little too long," player of the year finalist Megan Langenfeld said. "We have a bunch of alumni that are here and they keep telling us, 'Don't worry. You guys have it.' Whatever 'it' is, I don't know, but I guess we have it."

The Bruins had played for the title 18 of the first 24 years the World Series was in existence before missing out the past four years. Two of those, UCLA didn't even make it to the World Series - losing in the regionals in 2007 and the super regionals last year.

But now the Bruins from the program's storied past are noticing positive signs.

"They said, 'You look like the teams that have gotten there,'" Langenfeld said. "We're just going to keep doing it and play our game, and hopefully do what we're supposed to do."

A UCLA flag in center field was lowered to half-staff and the Bruins players and coaches wore black armbands with the initials of late basketball coach John Wooden, who died earlier this week at age 99.

Like Wooden, the UCLA softball program has won 10 NCAA championships, although one was later vacated. Wooden was one of the first people to call coach Kelly Inouye-Perez after she was put in charge of the Bruins program and opened his home to the team shortly thereafter

"Every Bruin that joins or commits to being a Bruin, whether you're a student or a student-athlete, knows that you join the family of the tradition of excellence at UCLA, so you become part of the whole," Inouye-Perez said.

"That ultimately allows all of us to have a moment to feel that for coach Wooden because he's a part of our family. He's a big part of our family. He's a big part of why people want to come to UCLA and continue his tradition instead of going someplace else and being the first."

Now, another championship is just two wins away.

The fifth-seeded Bruins (48-11) will face Arizona or Tennessee in the best-of-three finals starting Monday night. Arizona forced a decisive rematch with the Lady Vols with an 8-0 win Sunday in five innings.

Karissa Buchanan and Brittany Lastrapes each had three hits and two RBIs, and Kenzie Fowler (37-7) threw no-hit ball for four innings for the Wildcats (51-12). The game was a reversal of the first meeting between the teams at the World Series, when Tennessee (49-14) won 9-0 in five innings because of the mercy rule.

Langenfeld (14-1) threw a two-hitter and retired the side in order in every inning except the fourth, when Alisa Goler delivered a two-run single for the Bulldogs' only offense.

Georgia (50-13) held the old World Series record with seven home runs during last year's event before UCLA topped it this year, bringing its school-record total to 102 this season.

Bates, the No. 9 hitter, drove only her fifth home run of the season into the right-field bleachers to chase starter Erin Arevalo (20-7) in the second inning. Camuso followed with a shot deep into the stands in right-center field after Georgia reliever Alison Owen had hit two of the first three batters in the third.

It was her seventh home run in eight NCAA tournament games.

"I'm overall just trying to enjoy this experience," Camuso said. "It's obviously something that's just handed to you, and I'm just trying to have fun with it."