UCLA and Northwestern exchanged scoreless half innings in the bottom of the seventh, tied 2-2 to send the game to extras. It was looking like the No. 3 ranked Bruins were going to walk away from this thing unscathed when they put up two runs in the top of the eighth, including a Kinsley Washington homer.
So we thought. The Wildcats put up one run in the bottom of the inning, and had a runner on first and third, but they were down to their final out and final strike with Maeve Nelson at the plate. The senior blasted a three-run walk off bomb off of Megan Faraimo to win the game and pull off the upset. Watch the incredible moment below:
That’s right. Walk-off three-run home run to take down No. 3 UCLA.
— Northwestern Softball (@NUSBcats) February 18, 2022
MAEVE NELSON JUST DID THAT.#GoCats | #SPCEliteInvite pic.twitter.com/B4hEaZQwLl
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The instant classic moment came after what was a great pitching duel the whole way, featuring UCLA's Faraimo and Northwestern's Danielle Williams — two of the best pitchers in the country. Faraimo went 7.2 innings and registered a season-high 14 strikeouts in the matchup. Williams had six strikeouts in eight innings pitched, but picked up the big-time win. Faraimo and Williams exchanged scoreless second, third and fourth innings.
Nelson is in her fourth season at Northwestern. She started all 47 games at shortstop last season and went .268 at the plate with 11 doubles. The walk-off bomb was her second homer of the season.
The loss was UCLA's second in a row after dropping a 4-1 matchup to the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. The Bruins still have four games remaining at the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational, including Auburn, Texas, Wisconsin and Florida State, and the Wildcats will face Clemson and Oklahoma State to close out the weekend.
