No. 8 Seed UCLA Opens WCWS Versus Alabama Thursday

Thursday, May 28

Oklahoma City, OK

4:00 PM (PT)

UCLA

Alabama

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Taylor Tinsley

Photo by: Ross Turteltaub

No. 8 Seed UCLA Opens WCWS Versus Alabama Thursday

May 26, 2026 | Softball

UCLA's Notes (PDF)WCWS Bracket Media Center Watch

LOS ANGELES – No. 8 seed UCLA makes its NCAA-record 34th Women's College World Series appearance this week, beginning with a matchup against No. 1 seed Alabama on Thursday, May 28 at 4 p.m. (PT)/6 p.m. (CT) at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.

The fifth WCWS meeting between the Bruins (52-8) and Crimson Tide (54-7) will be televised on ESPN2. Broadcaster Matt Brown (pbp), Amanda Scarborough (analyst) and Alyssa Lang (reporter) will be on the call for UCLA's first two games of the week.

UCLA is powered by "The Bruin Bombers," Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery. Grant, a USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 3 Finalist, leads the country with an NCAA-record 40 home runs, 1.983 OPS and 74 walks. Woolery, the 2026 Big Ten Player of the Year, is on pace to become the first player in NCAA history to hit .500 with at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs in the same season.

UCLA's Game Notes (PDF)
WCWS Bracket
NCAA Tournament Interactive Bracket

UCLA'S POSTSEASON HISTORY
• The Bruins are making their NCAA-record 41st NCAA Tournament appearance and their 27th straight appearance since 1999.
• The Bruins' 34 Women's College World Series (WCWS) appearances are also an NCAA record.
• UCLA is the winningest program in the history of college softball with 12 NCAA Championships (13 total, including AIAW).
• UCLA holds the distinction as the only softball program to win a championship in every decade, including its 1978 AIAW title.
• UCLA owns an all-time NCAA Tournament record of 250-71 (.779), including a 105-43 (.710) mark in the WCWS.
• UCLA has reached the WCWS in 10 of the last 11 seasons the event was held, most recently in 2025.
• The Bruins won the first-ever title under the umbrella of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1982.

NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Senior slugger Megan Grant was named a Top 3 Finalist for the prestigious USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award on Monday, May 18. The winner will be announced prior to the start of the Women's College World Series on May 26 and receive a trophy modeled after UCLA great Lisa Fernandez. Additionally, Jordan Woolery was named a Top 10 Finalist for the award for a second consecutive season. This marks the fourth time in program history that two UCLA players have made the cut for the Top 10 in the same season, last accomplished in 2023. Two Bruins have won the award three times, most recently by Rachel Garcia in 2019.

NOTES ON THE BRUINS' LINEUP
• UCLA leads the nation and has set an NCAA single-season record with 200 home runs this season.
• UCLA has also set NCAA single-season records for runs scored (651), RBIs (623), total bases (1,355) and extra-base hits (323).
• A UCLA-record eight different players have hit double-digit home runs in the same season, including four with at least 20.
• UCLA also leads the NCAA in scoring (10.85), slugging (.836), on-base percentage (.496) and walks (317).
• UCLA's lineup boasts the NCAA leaders homers, OBP, SLG and OPS (Grant), RBIs (Woolery) and runs scored (Slimp).
• For a second straight year under hitting coach Lisa Fernandez, UCLA has set a program record for run-rule victories with 29.
• Megan Grant (Top 3) and Jordan Woolery (Top 10) have been named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Finalists.
• Grant is the NCAA leader in home runs (40), slugging percentage (1.333), on-base percentage (.650) and OPS (1.983).
• Woolery is on pace to become the first player in NCAA history to hit for a .500 average with at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs.
• Woolery has been named the 2026 Big Ten Player of the Year, marking UCLA's 20th conference Player of the Year award.

INDIVIDUAL OFFENSIVE RECORDS
• Megan Grant (40) and Jordan Woolery (34) are the first teammates in NCAA history to each hit 30+ homers in the same season.
• Grant broke the NCAA single-season home run record with her 38th of the year versus Nebraska on May 9.
• 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 has broken Stacey Nuveman's UCLA single-season home run record of 31, set in 1999, with 40 homers so far this season.
• Woolery ranks second in NCAA Division I history with a program-record 112 RBIs and 216 total bases.
• With 112 RBIs, Woolery is 16 RBIs shy of tying the NCAA single-season record of 128 set by Arizona's Laura Espinoza in 1995.
• Woolery ranks fifth on UCLA's career hits list with 293 base knocks over 240 games played.
• Rylee Slimp has broken Natasha Watley's UCLA single-season runs record of 75, set in 2001, with 94 runs so far this season.

POSTSEASON POINTERS
• UCLA has scored 57 runs this postseason, the most ever by a Bruins team through Super Regionals.
• UCLA's 18 home runs this postseason are the second-most by a Bruin team in the NCAA Tournament (27 homers in 2010).
• All nine players in UCLA's starting lineup have homered at least once this postseason, led by Aleena Garcia with four dingers.
• Garcia is tied with Arkansas' Karlie Davison with four homers entering the WCWS and ranks second behind her with 12 RBIs.
• Taylor Tinsley leads all pitchers in the NCAA Tournament with 29.1 innings pitched, four complete games and four victories.
• Tinsley recorded a postseason career high in strikeouts with 11 in UCLA's Super Regional-clinching win over UCF on May 23.
• Tinsley is the first Bruin pitcher since Ally Carda in 2015 to start every Regional and Super Regional game.
• The UCLA record for most consecutive pitching starts in a single postseason is 14, set by Anjelica Selden in 2005.
• Garcia set a UCLA postseason record with seven RBIs in UCLA's Super Regional finale versus UCF.
• Jolyna Lamar hit a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh at 11-11 versus Cal Baptist in UCLA's Regional opener.
• UCLA mounted an 11-7 deficit to walk it off on Cal Baptist on May 15. Garcia drove in the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly.
• Starting her third game of the season against South Carolina, Tinsley held the Gamecocks to just two hits in the Regional final.

NOTES ON THE TEAM
• For a second straight year, UCLA has broken the program record for run-rule victories with 29. Before 2025, the record was 21.
• 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.
• Inouye-Perez has guided UCLA to a 12th Women's College World Series appearance in her 20th season.
• UCLA's roster consists of 10 returners and 11 newcomers, including six true freshmen and five incoming transfers.
• Entering 2026, Inouye-Perez ranks seventh all-time and second among active head coaches with a .796 winning percentage.

BRUIN WORKHORSE
• Taylor Tinsley, an All-Big Ten Second Team honoree, has pitched 215.0 of UCLA's 361.1 total innings this season (59.5%).
• Tinsley's 59.5 percent innings workload ranks eighth-highest in program history, and is the highest by a Bruin arm since 2013.
• Tinsley has appeared in 15 straight contests dating back to April 18, pitching 79.2 of the team's 88 innings over that stretch.
• Her 15 straight appearances are the longest stretch by a Bruin ace since Rachel Garcia started 16 straight to close 2018.
• Tinsley has logged 3,652 pitches this year, which is 2,227 more than the next closest Bruin on the staff (N. Cable, 1,376).
• Tinsley ranks second in the country and leads all WCWS pitchers with 32 victories (next closest: A. Jensen, 25).
• Tinsley's 32 wins are tied for fifth in UCLA season history. She is the first Bruin to notch a 30-win campaign since Ally Carda in 2015.
• Tinsley ranks fourth in the country and leads all WCWS pitchers with 24 complete games this season (next closest. T. Kavan, 17).
• Tinsley's 24 complete games are the most by a Bruin pitcher since Angelica Selden in 2008, who finished with 28 that year.
• Tinsley the second Bruin hurler in the last 16 seasons to record 20+ complete games in a season (other: Rachel Garcia in 2018).
• The last UCLA pitcher to start every NCAA Tournament game was Ally Carda with eight in 2015 (must have advanced to WCWS).
• Tinsley ranks fifth in the nation and leads all WCWS pitchers with 45 appearances in UCLA's 60 games this season.
• Tinsley pitched in all three games of four Big Ten series this season, in addition to all three games of the Big Ten Tournament.
• Tinsley ranks seventh in UCLA history with 134 career appearances in the circle.
• 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.
• Tinsley was named an NFCA Third Team All-American and All-Big Ten First Team selection last season.

TEAM OFFENSIVE RECORDS
• UCLA has nearly doubled its previous program single-season home run record of 108 in 2010 with 200 so far this season.
• The 2026 Bruins tied and broke the former program single-season home run record in their 37th game of the year on April 4.
• For a second straight year, UCLA has broken the program record for run-rule victories with 29. Before 2025, the record was 21.
• UCLA has hit a program-record eight homers in a game three times this season. Before 2026, the record was seven set in 2013.
• UCLA has also set NCAA single-season records for runs scored (651), RBIs (623), total bases (1,355) and extra-base hits (323).
• UCLA's current slash line of .385 AVG/.836 SLG/.496 OBP are all on pace to set new program single-season bests.
• UCLA is averaging 10.85 runs per game, roughly three whole runs better than the previous program record of 7.92 in 2015.
• UCLA has also set team single-season records for doubles (114) and walks (317).