Arizona’s Carlie Scupin, left, looks to make a catch as former Wildcat, Isabella Dayton of Texas, tries to get out of the way during Sunday’s game. Texas won 5-2 to eliminate UA.

 Alonzo Adams, Associated Press

As they made an improbable run from the bottom of the Pac-12 standings to the Women’s College World Series, the Arizona Wildcats reinvented themselves as a team that delivered clutch hits, played solid defense and β€” more than anything else β€” avoided giving up big innings.

JJ Smith and Texas snapped the Wildcats’ two-week-long hot streak with one swing. Texas’ first baseman launched a three-run home run in the fourth inning, and the unseeded Longhorns ended the Wildcats’ season with a 5-2 win Sunday evening in Oklahoma City.

Texas scored one run in the third, three in the fourth and one in the fifth to put the Wildcats away in the double-elimination tournament. Smith’s homer came off UA pitcher Devyn Netz, who replaced starter Hanah Bowen as the Longhorns mounted that fourth-inning rally.

β€œThat one pitch, that one swing, it repeats in your head,” Netz said. β€œLike Coach T (Taryne Mowatt-McKinney, the UA’s pitching coach) said after, you can let this moment destroy you or you can let it motivate you. I think I’m going to choose the second option β€” to motivate me.”

Arizona's Devyn Netz pitches in the sixth inning of Sunday's game.

Arizona led 2-1 in the fourth when Alyssa Washington walked and Mary Iakopo singled. Netz was then summoned to replace Bowen. She struck out Katie Cimusz on fourth pitches before Smith launched a ball just beyond the right-center-field wall, giving the β€˜Horns a two-run lead. They added an insurance run an inning later, when Bella Dayton β€” a former Wildcat β€” hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field, scoring Janae Jefferson to make it 5-2.

Bowen was hung with the loss after allowing three runs on four hits while walking one and striking out two. Netz surrendered two runs on two hits over three innings, striking out one without walking a batter.

Arizona scored both its runs in the fourth inning β€” and could have posted even more. Singles by Sharlize Palacios and Izzy Pacho and a walk by Allie Skaggs loaded the bases for Carlie Scupin, who ripped a two-run single to right field, giving the UA a 2-1 lead. The Wildcats had runners on first and second with nobody out but couldn’t deliver. Page Dimler hit an infield popup and Texas changed pitchers, bringing in lefty Estelle Czech to replace the right-handed Hailey Dolcini. Czech struck out Blaise Biringer and Sophia Carroll, ending the Wildcats’ threat.

Within minutes, Texas would be back in the lead.

Sunday’s loss ended arguably the most unlikely of Arizona’s 25 WCWS appearances. The UA finished in last place in the Pac-12 standings, then qualified for the playoffs as an at-large team β€” a No. 3 seed in the Columbia, Missouri regional. The Wildcats blew through the four-team tournament thanks to stellar pitching from Bowen and Netz, then traveled to β€” and beat β€” Mississippi State in the Super Regionals, earning a spot in the eight-team WCWS.

Texas' Alyssa Popelka bunts against Arizona during the fifth inning of Sunday's Women's College World Series game.

The UA lost to Oklahoma State 4-2 on Thursday night, falling into the loser’s bracket. The Wildcats beat Oregon State one night later in an elimination game, setting up Sunday’s showdown against the Longhorns, who had lost to No. 1 seed Oklahoma on Saturday.

β€œNo one thought we would make it this far, but we did,” Palacios said. β€œWe believed wholeheartedly.”

UCLA advances to semifinals

OKLAHOMA CITY β€” UCLA pitcher Holly Azevedo threw a two-hit shutout and the fifth-seeded Bruins beat No. 14 Florida 8-0 in six innings Sunday to reach the Women’s College World Series semifinals and eliminate the Gators.

Azevedo (21-2) threw just 88 pitches, struck out two and walked one.

β€œI couldn’t do it without the people behind me,” she said. β€œOur defense was really, really on point today, and obviously we had a really good outing with offense.”

Kelli Godin, Maya Brady and Briana Perez each had two hits for the Bruins.

UCLA (50-9) will play No. 1 seed Oklahoma in the semifinals Monday and will have to beat the defending champion Sooners twice to reach the best-of-three championship series. The teams met in the championship series in 2019, with UCLA winning both games to claim the title. Oklahoma beat UCLA in an elimination game last year.

UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez isn’t worried about the fact that Oklahoma leads the nation in scoring, hitting and earned run average.

β€œWe’ve got to be able to come out and play our game at the end of the day, and if we do that, then it will be a great day of softball,” she said. β€œThat’s all that we’re focusing on right now.”

Florida (49-19) won its opener Thursday against Oregon State, but the Gators did not score in a loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday.

The struggles continued against UCLA.

β€œI think there was a lot of like, hits that we had that were hit hard, but it was right at people,” Florida’s Cheyenne Lindsey said. β€œYou can’t really control where the ball goes, only your contact. I think that was a big part of it.”

Elizabeth Hightower (17-9) got the loss for the Gators after giving up two runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings. Florida was the only Southeastern Conference team in the World Series field.

UCLA opened the scoring in the bottom of the second when Godin singled to score Savannah Pola.

UCLA looked like it might add some runs in the third. With one on and two outs, Alyssa Garcia lifted one deep to left field. Florida’s Katie Kistler leaped up against the wall and snagged it above the fence to end the inning.

The Bruins had runners on the corners with one out in the fourth when Florida shortstop Skylar Wallace β€” a second-team NFCA All-American β€” committed an error on a ground ball that allowed Pola to score.

Wallace failed to come up with another ground ball later in the inning. Briana Perez’s contact was ruled a single, and two runs scored to make it 4-0.

A single by Brady in the sixth knocked in two runs and gave UCLA a 6-0 lead. Pola then singled and scored two more to end the game.

Inouye-Perez said the Bruins figured things out as the game progressed.

β€œThose Florida pitchers were throwing some nasty stuff, and the strike zone started to be a little different,” she said. β€œYou know, it was just a little different, so we had to make an adjustment. Super proud.”

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