LOS ANGELES — UCLA softball needed to produce its fifth comeback of four or more runs this season to earn a spot in the Los Angeles Regional final. Another dose of “Bruin Magic.”
That level of desperation wasn’t necessary Sunday as the Bruins (40-10) jumped on Grand Canyon in the first inning, extending their lead enough to end the game after the fifth inning via the run-rule. With UCLA’s 9-1 victory over Grand Canyon (50-13), the Bruins advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals for the 13th time under head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez.
UCLA won all three games it appeared in during the 2024 Los Angeles Regional, rewriting the blunder in 2023 when consecutive losses ended the Bruins season. The first of those two losses came to the Antelopes, who the Bruins beat twice over three days this time around.
They needed 10 total innings to do so, conceding one run across those frames.
Taylor Tinsley (16-8) started Sunday’s game after lasting just 1 ⅓ inning on Saturday. She didn’t linger on past mistakes, instead locking in and going the distance. Tinsley struck out six Antelopes across five innings. She allowed two hits, one of which was Tinley Lucas’s third-inning home run.
UCLA offered run support before Tinsley even stepped on the mound.
With no outs in the bottom of the first, catcher Sharlize Palacios drove in Maya Brady and Jadelyn Allchin with a three-run home run. Palacios blasted two bombs over the right-field wall during Friday’s game against the Antelopes, but Virginia Tech’s pitching held her hitless, forcing three weak pop ups.
Palacios found her swing again, pouncing on a pitch and sending it over the fence in left field. She’s hit nine home runs over the last 14 games and three during the Los Angeles Regional.
The Bruins extended their lead to five in the top of the third inning when Alexis Ramirez replaced Antelopes’ starter Meghan Golden, who earned the loss on Sunday. Left fielder Jadelyn Allchin belted Ramirez’s third pitch over the center-field wall for a solo shot, her fifth home run of the season.
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Then, the same duo that produced the walk-off run on Saturday combined for another.
Grand Canyon shifted its defense, anticipating that, if second baseman Savannah Pola made contact, she’d pull the ball. But as she did on that game-winner, she hit it to the outside part of the field. Rather than a chopping grounder, though, this was a powerful double that trickled to the wall, allowing Jordan Woolery to score from first base.
UCLA loaded the bases in the top of the fourth, and brought each runner home without recording a hit. Janelle Meoño scored on a wild pitch. Brady came home on a ground out by Palacios and Allchin crossed the plate for a team-high third time on Woolery’s roller.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, third baseman Thessa Malau’ulu dove to field a ground ball and spun around to tag her own base. The play protected the run-rule and set Tinsley up to get the Antelopes out in order in the fifth.