UCLA Softball Looks to Avenge Last Year's WCWS Loss to Texas Tech
Hopefully, the UCLA baseball team has Game 1 easily in hand by the time the UCLA softball begins play against Texas Tech this afternoon so that Bruin fans can break away from baseball to watch the women play. First pitch for today’s UCLA WCWS softball game is set for 4 pm PT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Last Time Out
On Friday, the Bruin bats exploded for eleven runs against the Arkansas Razorbacks. UCLA shortstop Aleena Garcia got the party started with a solo homer when she parked the first pitch of the second inning over the centerfield wall. Four batters later Soo-Jin Berry one-upped Garcia by hitting a three-run homer with just one out. A pair of walks to Jolyna Lamar and Rylee Slimp brought Megan Grant to the plate, and, like Garcia, she put the first pitch she saw over the wall for the Bruins’ second three-run homer of the inning. It was Grant’s 42nd homer of the year and it allowed her to pass Stacey Nuveman for first place on UCLA’s career home run list with 91.
UCLA would add two more runs when Kaniya Bragg doubled to right, scoring Jordan Woolery and Bri Alejandre. All told, the Bruins sent 14 batters to the plate. They scored nine runs on six hits and left two runners on base in the inning.
UCLA added another run in the third when Slimp scored from third on a wild pitch, and they added one more in the fifth when Lamar hit UCLA’s fourth homer of the game.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Yesterday, Texas Tech lost to Tennessee, 2-1 in nine innings. NiJaree Canaday, pitching in relief of former Bruin Kaitlyn Terry, gave up a homer to Tennessee’s Taelyn Holley in the fifth inning, but the Red Raiders tied the game in the top of the seventh to force extra innings.
In the bottom of the ninth, Terry, who had returned to the circle in the bottom of the seventh, gave up a 1-0 walk-off home run to the Vols’ Emma Clarke to end it and set up today’s matchup.
Here’s the full schedule for the 2026 WCWS:
Thursday, May 28
Game 1: #3 Texas Tech 8, #5 Mississippi State 0
Game 2: #2 Tennessee 6, #1 Texas 3
Game 3: #1 Alabama 6, #2 UCLA 3
Game 4: #1 Nebraska 5, #2 Arkansas 3 (10 innings)
Friday, May 29
Game 5: #1 Texas 4, #5 Mississippi State 0
Game 6: #2 UCLA 11, #2 Arkansas 0
Saturday, May 30
Game 7: #2 Tennessee 2, #3 Texas Tech 1
Game 8: #1 Alabama 5, #1 Nebraska 1
Sunday, May 31
Game 9: #1 Texas vs. #1 Nebraska at Noon PT on ABC
Game 10: #2 UCLA vs. #3 Texas Tech at 4:00 pm PT on ESPN
Monday, June 1
Game 11: #2 Tennessee vs. Game 9 Winner at 9:00 am PT on ESPN
Game 12: Game 11 teams (if necessary), 11:30 am PT on ESPN
Game 13: #1 Alabama vs. Game 10 Winner at 4:00 pm PT on ESPN2
Game 14: Game 12 teams (if necessary), 6:30 pm PT on ESPN2
Championship Finals
Game 1: 5:00 pm PT, Wednesday, June 3 on ESPN
Game 2: 5:00 pm PT, Thursday, June 4 on ESPN
Game 3 (if necessary): 5:00 pm PT, Friday, June 5 on ESPN
Women’s College World Series
Game 6
Teams: #2 seed UCLA Bruins (53-9) vs. #3 seed Texas Tech (58-8)
When: 4:00 pm PT, Sunday, May 31, 2026
Where: Devon Park, Oklahoma City, OK
TV: ESPN with Kevin Brown and Amanda Scarborough
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
NCAA.com
Game Notes:
UCLA
Texas Tech
This is your UCLA Bruins vs. Texas Tech WCWS open thread.
Go Bruins!!!
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This team fought their heart out. Taylor did the best she could and would have been the mvp of this game if they had won. So proud of them. At the end of the day we just did not have enough pitching depth and I am surprised we made it this far. So sad to say farewell to the bruin bombers but seems like we have some
baby bombers for next year. Go Bruins!
Sucks that a former Bruin delivered the winning run for TTech. I guess the field sprinklers unexpectedly going off in the middle of the game was a bad omen. A double-disappointing weekend for UCLA for sure.