COLLEGES: UCLA GYMNASTICS TEAM GOING TO NCAA FINALS.

Byline: Daily News

The UCLA women's gymnastics team earned its first trip to the NCAA Championships since 2005 by finishing first Saturday at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships at Morgantown, W.V.

Tasha Schwikert won the all-around for the sixth consecutive meet, as the Bruins edged second-place LSU, 195.975-195.950, to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will be held at Salt Lake City on April 26-28. LSU also qualified.

UCLA's Anna Li won the uneven bars with a score of 9.950, and Li and Schwikert tied for the title in the balance beam with a score of 9.825. Schwikert tied with West Virginia's Janae Cox and LSU's Lauren Klein for the title in the floor exercise, each getting a score of 9.900.

BASEBALL

UCLA 7, USC 6: Down to their last strike, the Bruins (17-16, 7-1 Pacific- 10) rallied behind clutch two-out hits from Brandon Crawford and Cody Decker in the top of the ninth to overcome a 6-4 deficit and defeat crosstown rival USC (19-17, 2-6) at Dedeaux Field.

The Bruins won the season series against the Trojans, extended their win streak against USC to four games and captured the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy.

With two outs and runners at second and third, Crawford lined an 0-and-2 base hit to left field, scoring Eddie Murray and Ryan Babineau to tie the score 6-6.

Crawford took second base on left fielder Lucas Duda's fielding error. Decker then singled to bring home Crawford to give UCLA a 7-6 lead.

USC stranded runners at first and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth after Bruin right-hander Brant Rustich struck out USC shortstop Grant Green to record his team-leading sixth save.

Decker went 3 for 4, and Alden Carrithers went 2 for 5 for the Bruins. Each had two RBIs.

Green went 3 for 5 for USC.

Pepperdine 6, San Francisco 4: Eric Thames went 3for5 with two RBIs for the No.7 Waves (28-10, 8-0), who are off to their best conference start since 1996 with the victory over the Dons (18-19, 2-6).

Long Beach State 4, CSUN 2: , Jorge Andrade Jr. and Alex Bardeguez had an RBI each, but the Matadors (13-24, 1-7 Big West) lost for the eighth time in nine games.

SOFTBALL

UCLA 13, Oregon 3: Kaila Shull had three hits and three RBIs as the visiting Bruins (27-11, 3-4 Pac-10) routed the Ducks (37-7, 3-4).

CSUN swept: The Matadors (13-18-1, 1-7 Big West) lost both ends of a doubleheader to visiting Cal Poly (32-9, 8-0) dropping the first game 10-8 and the second 3-1. Jaclyn Rymer had three hits and three RBIs in the first game for CSUN.

WOMEN'S TENNIS

UCLA 4, Cal 3: Anna-Viktoria Lind won the final singles match to help the No. 13 Bruins (14-7, 5-2 Pac-10) upset the No. 8 Golden Bears (19-5, 5-2) at the L.A. Tennis Center.

UC Irvine 5, CSUN 2: CSUN singles player Kanykey Koichumanova extended her winning streak to 12 matches but the Matadors (9-6, 5-2 Big West) lost to the Anteaters (19-3, 6-0).