Game 12: Alabama 5, California 2
- No. 2 seed Alabama defeated No. 1 seed Cal in Game 12 of the Women’s College World Series to advance to play No. 4 seed Oklahoma in the best-of-three championship finals.
- This marks Alabama’s first ever trip to the WCWS championship finals. The Crimson Tide lost in the semifinals round in its last three WCWS appearances (2008, 2009 and 2011).
- Alabama and Oklahoma are tied for the nation’s longest active winning streak at 11. The teams will face each other Monday at 7 p.m. CT in Game 1 of the championship finals.
- For the first time since 2002, both teams that advanced to the championship finals did so without a loss through the first four days of play. In 2002, both Arizona and Cal won three straight games to advance to the championship game.
- This year marks just the third time in the 31-year history of the WCWS that a Pac-10/12 school did not make the championship finals. The other two years were 1983 and 1986 (Cal State Fullerton vs. Texas A&M each time).
- This marks just the second time in WCWS history that a team from California or Arizona failed to make the championship finals. The only other time was in 2009 when Washington defeated Florida for the title.
- Alabama hit three home runs today to set the school record for homers in a WCWS game. UA’s previous high was two homers against Florida on June 5, 2011, and Oklahoma on May 24, 2003.
- Alabama has scored five or more runs in 45 of its 64 games this season, including five of its eight postseason contests.
- Alabama sophomore infielder Kaila Hunt had two RBI today to move into second place on the school’s all-time single-season list. Prior to today, Hunt was tied with Charlotte Morgan, who tallied 74 RBI in 2010. Morgan also holds the school record of 79 RBI, set in 2008.
- Hunt’s homer was her 21st of the year. She ranks second in Alabama single-season history in the category, trailing only Kelly Kretschman, who hit 25 in 1998.
- With the win, Alabama sophomore pitcher Jackie Traina became the first in Crimson Tide history to record 40 victories in a season (40-2). She allowed just two hits while striking out six in the complete-game effort.
- Traina also accounted for the first run of the game, hitting a solo homer in the second inning. She finished 2-for-3 at the plate.
- Cal finished the season with an overall record of 58-7. The Bears fell to 21-22 all-time in the WCWS.
- Cal gave up five runs for the first time since losing 5-0 to Arizona State on May 12.
- Cal scored its two runs on a fourth-inning homer by freshman Danielle Henderson. The home run was her 16th of the season, second in the postseason and first in the WCWS.
- Cal junior pitcher Jolene Henderson took the loss, giving up nine hits and two walks while striking out eight in 6.0 innings. She entered the WCWS with a 36-2 record and finished the year 38-4.
