OKLAHOMA CITY ? Tammy Williams and Garland Cooper hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning as Northwestern beat top-seeded UCLA, 3-1, Sunday, knocking the Bruins out of the Women’s College World Series.

In a best-of-three championship series beginning today, fourth-seeded Northwestern (50-13) will face second-seeded Arizona, a 6-0 winner over eighth-seeded Tennessee on Sunday night. Arizona (52-11) lost, 1-0, to Tennessee earlier Sunday.

Northwestern’s victory came after UCLA’s Kristen Dedmon provided late-inning dramatics for the Bruins. Dedmon, who drove in the winning runs with a pinch-hit single in the 2004 championship game, again came off the bench to force extra innings with a two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.

Williams and Cooper responded with consecutive home runs off Anjelica Selden (35-7) to put Northwestern in position to play for the NCAA title for the first time in school history.

Eileen Canney (26-7) struck out six in a six-hitter, and Jamie Dotson added a home run off Selden in the second inning for Northwestern, which is playing in its first Women’s College World Series since 1986.

UCLA (50-9) won’t play for the title for the first time since 2002. The Bruins won the championship in 2003 and ’04 and were the runners-up to Michigan last year.

Northwestern's Eileen Canney pitches against UCLA. Northwestern won, 3-1, to advance to the championship bracket of the Women's College World Series on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

The Big Ten didn’t have a representative in the championship for the first 23 years of the World Series and now has finalists in consecutive seasons.

Arizona, which has won seven national titles, will be making its 11th championship-round appearance in 18 trips to the World Series, but its first since 2002.

In the second Arizona-Tennessee game, Arizona’s Alicia Hollowell (30-5) limited the Volunteers to a pair of singles while striking out 14 batters and walking none.

It was Tennessee’s worst defeat in 25 NCAA postseason games. The Volunteers (61-12), making their second World Series appearance, finished third nationally for the second straight season.

Losing pitcher Monica Abbott (44-10) finished the season as NCAA Division I’s wins leader.

Arizona scored twice in each of the first two innings, then added single runs in the third and sixth innings. The runs in the first inning came on Jenae Leles’ two-run single, and Autumn Champion delivered another two-run single in the second.

In the third, Laine Roth singled in the run and Champion collected her third RBI with a sixth-inning single.

In Tennessee’s 1-0 win, Katherine Card homered and Abbott threw a two-hitter, helping the Volunteers overcome a three-hitter by Hollowell.