OKLAHOMA CITY — UCLA lost the coveted reward of a day off in this Women’s College World Series when its record-shattering offense stilled slightly against Alabama’s arms.
Not that it ended up mattering much. The Bruins might as well have called it an off day the way they lit up Arkansas with four home runs in a 11-0 run-rule win bearing more similarities to batting practice than an elimination game.
“We always say loosen the pickle jar,” Megan Grant said. “It’s not just any one person. It could be all of us.”
UCLA batted around in the second inning, blasting 3.9999 home runs, sending nine runners across home plate and chasing two Arkansas pitchers from the circle. They were inches short of four in the half-inning when second baseman Kaniya Bragg’s hit to right field bounced off the top of the padding and back into play.
The two-RBI double served as a UCLA heat check on a squad opposing coaches compared to the New York Yankees Murderers’ Row. Which says a lot about the power UCLA can unleash as the tournament continues.
“Thank God it’s double elimination,” said UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez, the winningest coach in sport history. “We got an opportunity to get another chance to get out here and play our game. That’s all we talked about. We’re a contagious hitting team. When they’re loose and have discipline at the plate, great things can happen.”
Shortstop Aleena Garcia took her first pitch of the second inning off starter Payton Burnham to center field as the game’s opening run. Bri Alejandre grounded out to third, Bragg was hit by the first pitch and catcher Alexis Ramirez singled down the left-field line.
It set up a three-run homer by Soo-Jin Berry to left field that chased Burnham. Saylor Timmerman walked two on full counts, and a session three-record 12,546 in attendance braced for potential impact from the record-setting slugger.
Grant, an adult stepping into a children’s T-ball game to end it before dinner, swung at the first pitch with ease. Her blast to center field bounced off the top railing of the back of the bleachers for a 7-0 lead and officially clocked in at 260 feet.
“When Megan hits home runs, I back up,” Garcia said. “Megan is different. I mean, when she hits home runs, oh, my gosh, her energy. She’s a big energy starter for us. Megan has the biggest energy. She’s the biggest killer up to bat. She just starts a lot of things for us.”
The senior slugger’s 42nd home run of the season — extending the 31-year-old record she broke earlier this month — set the program’s all-time home run mark. She tied Stacey Nuveman, the inaugural USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year in 2002, with 90 homers on Thursday night.
As with any unbelievable feat, critics clamored to poke holes in UCLA’s 200 home run season. The total shattered the previous season high of 161 set by the 2021 Oklahoma squad. The Bruins averaged 3.3 home runs per game before arriving in Oklahoma City. By game’s end, they stand at 206 in 62 games, including Jolyna Lamar’s lead-off solo shot in the fifth.
UCLA’s Easton Stadium fences are 210 feet out at center field, and 190 down the lines. It’s slightly shorter than most, but not a significant outlier. At most it took away a handful, though many of Grant’s cleared with ease.
“She murders the ball every time she sees it,” Berry said.
About an hour before Texas and Mississippi State took the field for the first game, a fan came over to a popular taco truck behind the lower center field bleachers to ask if it was a good place to be for home run balls.
Grant answered that, clearing the fence line by nearly half a football field. Her pop up to short in a 1-2-3 first inning drew the loudest cheers from Arkansas fans, an exhausted bunch whose World Series hopes went sideways in the prior night’s emotional 10-inning thriller. Arkansas fell on the wrong side of the margins in a game that finished after midnight local time.
“We felt like we turned the page,” Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel said. “It wasn’t our night. It’s softball. Sometimes s*** happens. It happened tonight. UCLA, wherever you’re not at your best, they’re going to expose you. They exposed us tonight.”
The massive early lead took stress off UCLA starter Taylor Tinsley, their late-season workhorse ace. The senior leads all NCAA tournament pitchers with 40.1 innings pitched, and came into the WCWS pitching 59.5% of the team’s total innings this season (215 of 361.1).
UCLA will have a real day off on Saturday while the winner’s brackets play out. They will face the loser of Texas Tech and Tennessee, both programs with aces. The Red Raiders’ NiJaree Canady and Kaitlyn Terry are a shutdown pair; while the Lady Vols’ senior Karlyn Pickens is the hardest thrower in the game.
The Bruins proved again on Friday they can pass the bat down the line with the best of them, a contagious energy that continued into the post-game presser. Before exiting, Grant, the longest hitter of them all, gently pushed in every folding chair. They’ll be back, this time on true rest.
