How Alabama Ace Jocelyn Briski Stopped the Adversity Against UCLA's Big Bats

OKLAHOMA CITY––The lights at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium were getting a little brighter, the crowd a little louder, the bats a little stronger during the third inning of Thursday night's game between Alabama and UCLA.

After shutting down the Bruins through the first two innings, UCLA offense once again looked like the best offense in the country against Alabama junior ace Jocelyn Briski in the third inning.

It all started with an innocent one-out single from eight-hole hitter Kaniya Bragg as the Bruins' first baserunner of the game. A popup brought UCLA down to its final out of the inning. Then leadoff hitter Rylee Slimp hit her 17th home run of the season to give the Bruins the 2-1 lead.

The damage wasn't done. The nation's home run leader Megan Grant continued to make history with her 41st home run of the season to make it back-to-back blasts for the Bruins. After Jordan Woolery sent a two-out single up the middle to keep the rally going, Alabama pitching coach Lance McMahon went out to meet with Briski and catcher Marlie Giles.

Briski bounced back to strike out the next batter and did not allow another run.

"I thought Briski did an incredible job of pitching through a little adversity, then stopping it," Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. "They scored one run with two hits. We knew they were going to get some hits, okay? They have over 200 home runs now. That's like four a game. She limited the damage. She did not walk anybody."

After the Woolery two-out single, Briski retired 13 of the next 15 batters faced, only allowing a single and hit-by-pitch in that span.

She finished the game with nine strikeouts and no walks. UCLA leads the nation in batting average and home runs. The Bruins struck out more than eight times in a game only once this season (April 7 against Cal State Fullerton.)

"I've been saying it all week, we knew they were going to score runs," Briski said. "They're a great offense, great team. It was just minimizing it as much as possible and just minimizing it to one inning. I'll take that any day, especially with our offense. I knew we were going to score runs. They did. So really proud of our team."

The Alabama offense did back Briski up. Alexis Pupillo tied the game with a two-run home run in the fifth inning, and Brooke Wells hit the go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to give Briski plenty of cushion to work with heading into the seventh to pick up her 24th win of the season.

It was the consistency and level-headedness that Briski has displayed all season. It's why she was named SEC Pitcher of the Year and a first-team all-American. She reset mentally and went back to being aggressive around the zone to shut out the UCLA offense over the final four innings.

"One of the things you have to have in the postseason is the quickest short-term memory you ever had in your life," Murphy said. "Briski had it tonight. If she would have dwelled on those two home runs, they probably would have been the other score, [UCLA] probably would have won."

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