No. 9 Softball Hosts Rival California for Double-Header Saturday

Saturday, April 18

Los Angeles, CA

12:00 PM (PT)

UCLA

California

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Kaniya Bragg

Photo by: Crash Kamon

No. 9 Softball Hosts Rival California for Double-Header Saturday

April 17, 2026 | Softball

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LOS ANGELES – The No. 9 UCLA softball team will host longtime West Coast rival California for a double-header at Easton Stadium Saturday afternoon. Game times are scheduled for 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. (PT). Both contests are available for viewing on BigTenPlus.com. The two programs spent 38 years as members of the Pac-12 Conference from 1987-2024.

GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Easton Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Schedule (all times Pacific)
Saturday, April 18 – California at UCLA – 12 p.m.
Saturday, April 18 – California at UCLA – 2:30 p.m.
Watch: BigTenPlus.com
Live Stats: ucla.statbroadcast.com

UCLA'S TICKET INFORMATION (HOME GAMES)
Single-game tickets UCLA's five remaining home games are on sale. Direct links to single-game ticket purchases can be viewed here. Fans can call (310) 206-5991 or email tickets@athletics.ucla.edu for more information. Additionally, fans with a 2025-26 Olympic Sports Card, available to purchase for $110, will gain admission to every home game.

KEY NOTES ON THE BRUINS
• UCLA has hit a program-record 145 home runs and needs two more to tie the Big Ten record of 147 set by Ohio State last season.
• For the first time in program history, seven different UCLA players have reached double-digit home runs in the same season.
• Grant (1.336) and Jordan Woolery (1.218) rank first and second in the country in slugging percentage, respectively.
• Grant (30) and Woolery (26) have each hit 20+ home runs for a second consecutive season.
• Grant has broken her Big Ten home run record of 26 set last season. She needed 29 fewer games this season to tie that mark.
• Grant is also the NCAA leader in on-base percentage (.648) and walks (52) and ranks second in home runs (30).
• With 30 home runs, Grant is one away from tying Stacey Nuveman's program record of 31 set in 1999.
• With an NCAA-leading 90 RBIs, Woolery is one shy of tying Stacey Nuveman's program record of 91 set in 1999.
• Woolery has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week three times this season, most recently on March 9.
• With an NCAA-leading 74 runs scored, Rylee Slimp is one shy of tying Natasha Watley's program record of 75 set in 2001.
• UCLA is on the verge of setting the team single-season record for runs scored with 498. The record is 499 set in 2015.
• Taylor Tinsley has pitched 135.0 of UCLA's 263.1 total innings this year (51.4%). She ranks second in the nation with 22 wins.
• UCLA leads the NCAA in scoring (11.32) and is ranked second in homers (145), on-base percentage (.501) and slugging (.832).
• UCLA has recorded 22 run-rule wins this season after setting the program record with 28 run-rule wins in 2025.
• Kelly Inouye-Perez became the 55th head coach in NCAA Division I history to win 900 games at Rutgers on March 22.
• Inouye-Perez became UCLA softball's all-time winningest head coach earlier this season with her 888th career victory.
• UCLA plays its 52nd season of softball this spring, the 20th with Inouye-Perez at the helm.
• UCLA made an NCAA-record 33rd Women's College World Series appearance in 2025, and the 11th under Inouye-Perez.
• UCLA's All-America trio from last season returns with seniors Megan Grant, Taylor Tinsley and Jordan Woolery.
• Grant, Tinsley and Woolery were all named to the prestigious 2026 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List.
• Grant and Woolery led all duos in the country in 2025 with 49 combined home runs and was second with 167 combined RBIs.
• Tinsley is UCLA's lone returning pitcher after leading last year's staff with a 2.44 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 6.63 K/BB ratio in 2025.
• UCLA's roster consists of 10 returners and 11 newcomers, including six true freshmen and five incoming transfers.
• The Bruins enter their second year in the Big Ten after finishing second with a 17-5 conference record in their debut season.
• Entering 2026, Inouye-Perez ranks seventh all-time and second among active head coaches with a .796 winning percentage.

RECORDS WATCH
Three different UCLA players could set long-standing program season records on Saturday. That group includes seniors Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery and sophomore Rylee Slimp. Grant, who has belted a Big Ten record 30 home runs this season, needs two more to break Stacey Nuveman's 26-year-old home run record of 31. Similarly, Woolery, who leads the NCAA with 90 RBIs, needs two more to pass Nuveman's record of 91 also set in 1999. Slimp tied a program record with five runs scored in UCLA's 27-9 win at Long Beach State on April 15, pushing her season total to 74. She needs two more runs to pass Natasha Watley's 24-year-old record of 75.

HOMER HAPPY BRUINS
• UCLA broke its single-season home run record of 108 set in 2010 with three dingers against Indiana on April 4. The Bruins needed 24 fewer games to tie and break the record. With 145 home runs through 44 games, UCLA is currently averaging 3.30 home runs per contest. Additionally, UCLA has surpassed 100 home runs for a second consecutive season under hitting coach Lisa Fernandez.
• A program-record seven different UCLA players have hit double-digit home runs: Megan Grant (30), Jordan Woolery (26), Bri Alejandre (16), Kaniya Bragg (14), Aleena Garcia (14), Alexis Ramirez (11) and Jolyna Lamar (10). Previously, UCLA had five players hit double-digit homers in a season twice during the 2010 and 2003 campaigns.
• UCLA has hit back-to-back jacks 13 times this season and back-to-back-to-back home runs four times. Before this season, the last time UCLA went back-to-back-to-back was in February 2022. In Game 1 at Illinois on April 10, UCLA hit the second-most home runs in a single inning in NCAA history with six in the top of the seventh. That inning featured to separate stretches of back-to-back-to-back homers, with Kaniya Bragg homering twice in the frame.
• UCLA has scored 55.8 percent of its runs this season via the longball (278 of 498 total runs scored). Twelve different Bruins have homered a total of 145 times this season, which ranks second in the country behind Oklahoma.
• Senior Megan Grant ranks second in the country with 30 home runs. She tied her Big Ten single-season home run record of 26 set last season in UCLA's most recent win versus Cal State Fullerton on April 7, needing 29 fewer games to hit that mark. She is also one homer shy of tying Stacey Nuveman's program record of 31 set in 1999.
• UCLA tied the NCAA single-game record with three grand slams at Long Beach State on April 15. That feat had been accomplished only five other times, last occurring on Feb. 14, 2024 when Duke hit three versus North Dakota State. Six different Bruins have hit a total of 13 grand slams this season. Jordan Woolery leads the team with four, which is tied for fifth-most in a season in NCAA history.

COACH I MILESTONES
• Kelly Inouye-Perez became UCLA softball's all-time winningest head coach after defeating No. 4 Florida on Feb. 27 at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton for her 888th career victory. She passed her predecessor, former coach and NFCA Hall of Famer Sue Enquist who had an overall mark of 887-175-1 (.835). Sharron Backus, the inaugural coach in UCLA softball history, was the first to reach 800 wins as she retired with a record of 854-173-3 (.831). The three UCLA Athletic Hall-of-Fame head coaches are responsible for all of the Bruins' 2,250 wins and 13 national championships, which are both the most in NCAA history.
• Later, Inouye-Perez secured her 900th career victory in UCLA's 13-3 win at Rutgers on March 22. She became the 55th head coach in NCAA Division I Softball history to reach that milestone. UCLA has topped 50 wins in nine of Inouye-Perez's 20 seasons as head coach and reached the Women's College World Series 11 times.

WATCH THE BRUINS ON B1G+
Fans can catch all non-televised UCLA home games and road Big Ten Conference games on a high-quality streaming service, Big Ten Plus (B1G+). Annual passes ($89.99) and monthly passes ($12.99) are available for purchase here. Roughly 30 UCLA home and road games are viewable only on B1G+.