Tennessee advance past Bruins at WCWS after 15-minute review - ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY — Laura Mealer's ninth-inning, walk-off single clinched a 5-4 Tennessee win over UCLA and launched the Lady Vols into the WCWS semifinals on Sunday, but not before a controversial, 7th-inning replay review delayed play for nearly 15 minutes earlier in the game.

«That was one of the most exciting, intense, emotional games I've ever been a part of in all my years of coaching,» Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said after the three-hour, 24-minute marathon. «I couldn't be more proud of our young women for hanging in there and not letting what happened in the 7th inning cost us to lose the game.»

No. 7 Tennessee led 4-2 with two outs in the top of the 7th inning when Bruins junior Megan Grant launched a two-run blast that appeared to tie the contest 4-4. However, replay footage showed that Grant failed to touch home plate amid a team celebration on the end of her home run trot. Grant, a first-team All-American in 2025, subsequently stepped on the base and was initially ruled safe after on-deck batter Alexis Ramirez pulled her back to home plate.

Alerted to Grant's gaffe by the Tennessee dugout, the on-field officiating crew and game officials engaged in a lengthy replay review. After 13-plus minutes, umpire Cameron Ellison announced that Grant had missed the base and was later assisted toward home plate by a teammate, but determined that the incident was «not reviewable according to Appendix G» of the section of NCAA rule book related to reviewable plays, upholding Grant's home run and the 4-4 tie.

«I think everybody but four people saw the play at the plate,» Weekly said. «We saw in the dugout that she had missed the plate and then we saw that her teammates had kind of pushed her back. By rule, that should have