Rachel Garcia validated her Collegiate Player of the Year award in the most dramatic of ways Sunday afternoon.
The UCLA ace struck out 16 batters while throwing 179 pitches through 10 shutout innings. The encore came in the bottom of the 10th. Garcia ripped a three-run, walk-off home run to left field to break a scoreless tie.
UCLA eliminated Pac-12 foe Washington with the 3-0 result. The Bruins advanced to the championship series, and will play for their first Women’s College World Series title since 2010.
UCLA will face either Oklahoma or Alabama.
UCLA leads college softball with 11 national championships, but eight of those were won prior to 2000.