UCLA Softball Facing Elimination After Loss to Texas Tech, 3-1
The Bruins will play Tennessee this afternoon in an elimination game.
The Bruin bats went silent yesterday against Texas Tech, and former Stanford, pitcher NiJaree Canady as UCLA managed only four hits and a total of six baserunners throughout the game.
The good news is that at least there was no self-inflicted damage from head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez’s game management.
Now, UCLA faces another must-win situation when the Bruins face the Tennessee Lady Volunteers today at Noon PT. Today’s game will be broadcast on ABC.
This afternoon’s game will be UCLA’s third elimination game of the tournament. Of course, they won the first two elimination games they played. The thing about elimination games is that they’re fine as long as you keep winning them.
If the Bruins were going to lose a game in the WCWS, yesterday’s game was the one to lose. If you lose your first game, like Oregon did on Thursday, you need to win four straight to get to the WCWS. If you win your first two and lose a game in the national semifinals, you run the risk of losing momentum and back-to-back games to a surging opponent, similar to how the Bruins exploded in the bottom of the seventh last weekend against South Carolina and then came back the next day to beat the Gamecocks.
That doesn’t mean it will be easy for the Bruins to make the championship series. UCLA needs to win three straight games to do it. If their bats go quiet again, the season might be over.
The immediate need is that they go 1-0 today with their backs against the wall.
Last Time Out
Yesterday’s game was a pitcher’s duel through the first four innings.
The only thing close to a rally occurred in the bottom of the second. Megan Grant led off the inning with a five-pitch walk. With one out, freshman leftfielder Rylee Slimp laid down a perfect bunt. Not only did she move Grant to second, she also beat out the throw to first from Canady for the first hit of the game. A four-pitch walk to freshman shortstop Kaniya Bragg loaded the bases for the Bruins. Unfortunately, Taylor Stephens struck out for out number two. That brought Kaitlyn Terry, who started in right field yesterday, to the dish and she slapped on down to Bailey Lindemuth, who was playing in at third, and she took the force at home for the final out of the inning.
The next hit didn’t come until the top of the fifth when Lauren Allred singled to left to lead off the inning. With one out, NiJaree Canady doubled down the right field line and off the wall to give the Red Raiders a pair of runners in scoring position and Makayla Garcia pinch-ran for Canady. Demi Elder grounded to Grant at first who came home to Ramirez. This time, there was no obstruction call as Ramirez tagged Allred for out number two.
That brought up Texas Tech catcher Victoria Valdez. With the count 0-2 and two outs, Red Raider head coach Gerry Glasco sent Garcia home. Unfortunately, because Valdez bats right, UCLA catcher Alexis Ramirez didn’t see Garcia coming home and she scored the first run of the game easily to give Texas Tech a 1-0 lead.
Bragg got that run back for the Bruins with a solo homer to right to lead of the bottom half of the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Hailey Toney homered to right-center with two outs to put the Red Raiders back in front, and Texas Tech added an insurance run in the seventh to give them a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.
That left UCLA needing a late rally to win and the inning started well for the Bruins. Both Ramirez and Slimp singled to bring the winning run to the plate for UCLA with no one out. Bragg popped up the first pitch she saw to second for an infield fly rule out. Sofia Mujica pinch-hit for the light-hitting Taylor Stephens , but she struck out looking. Kaitlyn Terry was next and she hit a hard ground ball to second where Slimp was tagged out for the final out of the game.
This time, there would be no walk-off.
Tennessee Lady Volunteers
The Lady Vols came into the WCWS as the number seven seed. Tennessee opened up against Oklahoma and they had a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, but the Sooners’ Ella Parker hit a walk-off three-run homer to send the Lady Vols into the elimination bracket.
On Friday night, Tennessee scored seven runs in the first en route to an 11-3 run-rule shortened five inning win over the #3 seed Florida Gators, sending them home.
The Bruins did face the Lady Vols earlier this season at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City. In that matchup, UCLA’s Addison Fisher gave up three runs in the first, but the Bruins rallied with four in the fifth including a three-run homer by Jordan Woolery to win 4-3.
The Bruins are hoping for a similar result this afternoon.
It should be interesting to see who’s in the circle today for the Bruins. Kaitlyn Terry allowed just one hit in three shutout innings against the Lady Vols back in February, but didn’t send Taylor Tinsley to the circle. Will UCLA turn to Tinsley whom the Lady Vols didn’t face, or will KIP go with Terry who pitched well against Tennessee?
Here is the full WCWS schedule with results:
Thursday, May 29
Game 1: #6 Texas defeats #3 Florida, 3-0
Game 2: #2 Oklahoma defeats #7 Tennessee, 4-3
Game 3: #12 Texas Tech defeats Ole Miss, 1-0
Game 4: #9 UCLA defeats #16 Oregon, 4-2
Friday, May 30
Game 5: #7 Tennessee defeats #3 Florida, 11-3 (5 innings)
Game 6: #16 Oregon defeats Ole Miss, 6-5 (10 innings)
Saturday, May 31
Game 7: #6 Texas defeats #2 Oklahoma, 4-2
Game 8: #12 Texas Tech defeats #9 UCLA, 3-1
Sunday, June 1
Game 9: #7 Tennessee vs. #9 UCLA at Noon PT on ABC
Game 10: #16 Oregon vs. #2 Oklahoma at 4:00 pm PT on ESPN2
Monday, June 2
Game 11: #6 Texas vs. Game 9 Winner at 9:00 am PT on ESPN
Game 12 (if necessary): Game 11 teams , 11:30 am PT on ESPN
Game 13: #12 Texas Tech vs. Game 10 Winner at 4:00 pm PT on ESPN
Game 14 (if necessary): Game 12 teams, 6:30 pm PT on ESPN
Championship Finals
Game 1: 5:00 pm PT, Wednesday, June 4 on ESPN
Game 2: 5:00 pm PT, Thursday, June 5 on ESPN
Game 3 (if necessary): 5:00 pm PT, Friday, June 6 on ESPN
This is your UCLA vs. Texas Tech WCWS Game 8 game thread.
Women’s College World Series
Game #9
Teams: #9 seed UCLA Bruins (55-12) vs. #7 seed Tennessee Lady Volunteers (46-16)
When: 12:00 Noon PT, Sunday, June 1, 2025
Where: Devon Park, Oklahoma City, OK
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
NCAA.com
NCAA WCWS Bracket
Go Bruins!!! Bring home NC# 125!!!
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GONE! Bruins are alive!
It looks like the reason the call was upheld was because checking to see if a runner was assisted is not listed among the list of reviewable calls.