Thursday, February 9
Los Angeles, CA
7:00 PM
UCLA
vs
Cal State Fullerton
Two-time NFCA All-American Megan Faraimo
Photo by: Marie Goldfarb
Bruins Begin Road Back to OKC Thursday
February 07, 2023 | Softball
LOS ANGELES โ The No. 2 UCLA softball team opens the 2023 season hosting the 19th-annual Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament with six games over four days at Easton Stadium, beginning with Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. (PT).
Key Notes About UCLA
โข The Bruins have returned two of their top five main contributors in the lineup and their ace from last season's squad. UCLA went 51-10 last year, advancing to the Women's College World Series for a seventh consecutive season and finishing t-3rd. Veteran players back this season include seventh year Aaliyah Jordan and redshirt seniors Megan Faraimo, Anna Vines and Kelli Godin. All four players helped the Bruins win their most recent NCAA Championship in 2019. UCLA has also returned redshirt juniors Maya Brady, Seneca Curo and sophomore Savannah Pola.
โข UCLA added 11 total newcomers to the roster this season for its most in program history (previously was eight). Four of the new Bruins are transfers: Janelle Meoño (OF) and Sharlize Palacios (C) from Arizona and Brooke Yanez (LHP) and Rachel Cid (INF) from Oregon. The seven freshmen include utilities Kennedy Powell and Megan Grant, pitcher Taylor Tinsley, catcher Alexis Ramirez and infielders Rylee Pinedo, Jordan Woolery and Ramsey Suarez.
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Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament Schedule
Season Openers
In her 16 seasons as head coach (2007-Pres.), Kelly Inouye-Perez has gone 14-2 in season-openers. Last year, the Bruins dominated CSUN in a 22-0 shutout victory, tying the record for most runs scored by UCLA in an opener. The 22-0 win was the first 20+ margin of victory since a 20-0 triumph over UC Riverside on Feb. 5, 2003. It was also tied for the third-most runs in a single game in program history. Starting pitcher Holly Azevedo secured the first individual no-hitter of her career in that outing. Inouye-Perez's last loss on opening day was at the hands of Purdue on Feb. 7, 2009 (2-1, L).
History & Tradition
The 2023 season marks the 48th year of Bruin softball (first was 1975). In addition, this marks the 29th year UCLA has called Easton Stadium home, first opening its gates to the public on Feb. 19, 1994. The stadium sits on the same plot of land as Sunset Field, the original on-campus facility utilized by the program since 1979. In all, the Bruins have won a nation-leading 12 NCAA Championships and have won a national title in every decade dating back to the 1970s (1978 title was under the umbrella of the AIAW). UCLA was the first program to repeat NCAA Championships in 1984 and 1985, and was the first to three-peat in 1988, 1989 and 1990.
The Bruins' Schedule
โข UCLA will play a 56-game regular-season schedule with 26 games against 14 opponents ranked in the NFCA Coaches preseason top 25 poll. The Bruins will play five of the eight teams from last year's Women's College World Series: Florida (Feb. 23), Northwestern (Feb. 25), Oklahoma (Feb. 26), Oregon State (April 6-8) and Arizona (April 14-16).
โข Following the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament, the Bruins will return to three preseason tournament staples. From Feb. 16-19, UCLA will compete at the fourth-annual TaxAct Clearwater Invitational in Clearwater, Fla. (Feb. 16-19). The following week, the Bruins will head to Cathedral City for the 17th rendition of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic (Feb. 23-26). Concluding the preseason schedule is the Judi Garman Classic at Anderson Family Field in Fullerton, Calif. (March 3-5).
USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List
Senior Megan Faraimo and juniors Maya Brady and Sharlize Palacios were selected to the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List. Brady, a utility out of Thousand Oaks, Calif., was second on the squad with 15 home runs in 2022, two of which came on June 6 versus No. 1 Oklahoma at the Women's College World Series. Reigning Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Megan Faraimo tossed two solo perfect games (and one combined with Lauren Shaw) and led the conference in strikeouts (292) in 2022. Palacios helped Arizona to the WCWS as the team's starting catcher with 20 homers last season.
Preseason All-Pac-12 Team
Five UCLA players were named to the 2023 Preseason All-Pac-12 Team on Feb. 1: Maya Brady, Megan Faraimo, Aaliyah Jordan, Sharlize Palacios and Brooke Yanez. UCLA paced the conference with five of the 19 named to the team with the next-closest school being Washington with four selections.ย
Pac-12 Favorites
The Bruins were picked to finish first in the annual Pac-12 Softball Coaches' Preseason Poll. UCLA received eight of nine possible first-place votes in the preseason poll. Washington was the only other institution to receive a first-place vote. UCLA garnered a total of 64 points to secure its spot atop the preseason coaches poll for the third consecutive season and league-record 13th time overall (since 1999). The Bruins have not finished below third in the conference since 2013 (t-5th).
Preseason Polls
UCLA was tabbed at No. 2 in both the 2023 USA Today/NFCA Division I Preseason Coaches Poll and ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25. UCLA is tied with Arizona with 24 top-10 appearances in the NFCA preseason poll. It's the eighth-straight season the Bruins have been slotted in the top 10 of the preseason poll.
Golden Eagle Bruins
Faraimo, Brady and Palacios each represented Team USA on the U.S. Women's National Team over the offseason.
Faraimo: Competed in the Japan All-Star Series, The World Games in Birmingham, Ala., the Canada Cup and the Pan American Championship with fellow Bruin Rachel Garcia.
Palacios: Competed in the Japan All-Star Series and Canada Cup ... in 10 games across both events, she hit .471 (8-for-17) with two home runs, a triple and five RBI ... helped Team USA to a Canada Cup championship (.571 avg.).
Brady: Went 4-for-8 in the Japan All-Star Series.
Postseason Success
UCLA advanced to the Women's College World Series for the seventh year in a row in 2022, extending its longest active streak in the nation. The Bruins have appeared in the NCAA Tournament a record 37 total times, including 23 straight, and have missed out on just three occasions (last in 1998). UCLA is the winningest team in NCAA postseason history with a 233-64 (.785) record.
On the Biggest Stage โฆ
Three Bruins received All-Women's College World Series Tournament honors following the end of the 2022 season: Maya Brady, Megan Faraimo and Delanie Wisz.
Brady: Maya Brady led the Bruins with a .438 average and seven RBI at the WCWS. Brady recorded the second two-homer game of her career, going deep twice off Oklahoma on June 6 to force an "if necessary" game later that day.
Faraimo: Megan Faraimo had one of the most spectacular plays of the entire 2022 WCWS, putting on a show with both her arm and bat versus Northwestern. With the bases loaded and down 3-0 in the count to Rachel Lewis, Faraimo fired in three straight strikes to K the Big 10 Player of the Year. Just minutes later, she hit a solo bomb off Big 10 Pitcher of the Year Danielle Williams. Faraimo also handed No. 1 Oklahoma its third loss of the season later at the WCWS.
Wisz: Delanie Wisz opened the Bruins' first game against the Sooners with a home run in the first inning for her second longball in OKC. Her first came against No. 14 Texas on June 2.
Offseason Promotions
UCLA coaching greats Lisa Fernandez and Kirk Walker each received promotions to associate head coach roles this past offseason. Fernandez, now the Mark Kalmansohn UCLA Associate Head Softball Coach as of August 10, 2022, begins her 25th season on the Bruins' staff in 2023 (1997-99, 2007-Pres.). With Fernandez on the staff, UCLA has posted a 1,117-240-2 (.822) record and won five NCAA Championships. Fernandez has also been honored as a member of the NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year three times (2004, 2010, and 2019) and NFCA Regional CSOY seven times (last 2021). Arguably the greatest pitcher in softball history, Fernandez has coached nine Bruin hurlers to 20 NFCA All-American awards. Fernandez has led the Bruins to a top five nationally-ranked earned run average in every season since taking over as UCLA's pitching coach in 2019. In the Bruins' 2019 NCAA Championship campaign, Fernandez's staff dominated with a 1.43 earned run average, ranking second in the country.
Walker, who has helped lead UCLA to seven NCAA Championships, was promoted on Aug. 12. Walker has accumulated a coaching record of 780-144-1 (.843) over 21 years in Westwood, separated by two stints from 1984-94 and 2012-Pres. Walker has been a fixture in the third base coaches' box since his return to UCLA in 2012, contributing to the 2019 National Coaching Staff of the Year award and five NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year awards. Walker, who helped establish UCLA softball's early dynasty, was hired as the program's first-ever undergraduate assistant coach in 1985.
Five All-Americans
UCLA returns three former NFCA All-Americans from last year's squad in Maya Brady, Aaliyah Jordan and Megan Faraimo and added two more through the transfer portal this offseason in Janelle Meoño and Brooke Yanez.
Brady: Brady was an NFCA First Team All-American in 2021 and is a two-time All-Pac-12 honoree. The redshirt sophomore utility was the Bruins' everyday center fielder a season ago and recorded 13 multi-RBI games.
Jordan: Jordan is a two-time NFCA First Team All-American (2021, 2018) and is one of four members still remaining from the Bruins' 2019 NCAA Championship squad. Jordan missed the majority of last season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered at the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational. She is back in Westwood for her seventh year in 2023. She owns a career batting average of .389 and ranks third on UCLA's career doubles list with 60.
Faraimo: Faraimo is a two-time NFCA All-American after earning second team honors in 2022. She was the Bruins' ace last season with a 24-5 record and averaging a monstrous 10.32 K/7.
Meoño: Meoño was honored as an NFCA Third Team All-American in 2021 after claiming the Pac-12 Batting Champion title with a .442 batting average.
Yanez: Yanez was an NFCA Third Team All-American in her last season of action in 2021. That year, she was a 22-game winner with 268 strikeouts over 182.1 innings pitched as the ace of the Oregon Ducks' staff.
New Bruins
โข UCLA reloaded via recruiting and the transfer portal in 2023. Highlighting the Bruins' class of freshmen are utility Megan Grant, infielder Jordan Woolery and pitcher Taylor Tinsley.
โข Megan Grant was ranked as the No. 2 overall recruit in the country by Extra Inning Softball after starring four years at Aragon High School. She was named to the San Francisco Chronicle's 2022 All-Metro First Team and Mercury News' All-Bay Area Softball First Team her senior season. In 2021, Grant helped United States U18 Women's National Team win gold at both the WBSC U18 World Cup in Lima, Peru, and Junior Pan American Games in Barranquilla, Colombia.
โข The Bruins beefed up their rotation with the addition of Taylor Tinsley, who was ranked as the No. 1 pitcher and No. 2 overall recruit by Softball America. Tinsley was awarded First Team All-State each year of her high school career a George Walton Academy. She is UCLA's first player out of the state of Georgia (Lawrenceville).
โข Transferring to Westwood from Arizona are outfielder Janelle Meoño and catcher Sharlize Palacios. Palacios was a member of two WCWS squads for the Wildcats as their everyday designated player in 2021 and everyday catcher in 2022. In three seasons, she totaled 122 hits, 128 RBI and 39 home runs, including three grand slams as a freshman in 2020. Palacios collected All-Pac-12 First Team plaudits in 2022 and 2021. Meoño, a rangy and speedy outfielder, bat leadoff in 34 of her 35 games played last season. In her Pac-12 Batting Champion 2021 season, Meoño had a 27-game hitting streak.
โข Also coming via the portal from Oregon are left-handed pitcher Brooke Yanez and infielder Rachel Cid. Yanez is back to full health after missing the 2022 season due to injury. Yanez had impressive showings against the Bruins in the past. In 2021, she defeated UCLA twice when it was ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively. Yanez struck out 10 Bruins in a 3-1 win on Feb. 28 and threw a two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts on April 9.
Pitching Dominance
UCLA has led the Pac-12 in ERA and wins in each of the last four seasons. In 2022, the Bruins' pitching staff led the Pac-12 in nearly every statistical category: ERA (1.72), strikeouts (486), wins (51), opposing batting average (.180) and saves (12).
Megantron
Megan Faraimo earned the first Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year award of her career and was named to her third All-Pac-12 First Team in 2022. Faraimo was also a USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 25 Finalist for the second season in a row after boasting the her first 20-win season (24-5 record). Faraimo's 1.98 ERA and Pac-12-leading 292 strikeouts (8th in the country) earned her NFCA Second Team All-American honors. She also set a UCLA single-season record in saves (7).
Notes on Megan Faraimo: The tallest player on the squad at 6-foot, Faraimo owns a lifetime 1.45 ERA and is seventh on UCLA's career strikeouts list with 768. She owns a 72-13 career record. She has thrown four solo perfect games which ranks second all-time in program history behind Debbie Doom (1982-85, 6 perfect games). In her most recent perfect game versus CSU Bakersfield on March 11, 2022, Faraimo struck out all 15 batters she faced. Faraimo opened the game with 30 consecutive strikes. Her first ball came to the third batter of the third inning.
University of Pitchers Who Rake, Los Angeles
Megan Faraimo became the sixth player in UCLA history to pitch and hit a home run in the same Women's College World Series game when earned the win and went yard off Northwestern on June 10, 2022. She joins Rachel Garcia, Megan Langenfeld, Amanda Freed, Courtney Dale and Lisa Fernandez. Other Bruin hurlers with a rich history of doing "double duty" include Ally Carda and Jessica Hall.
20-Game Winners
Last season, Megan Faraimo (24-5) and Holly Azevedo (21-3) became the first 20-win Bruin pitching duo in 20 years. Keira Goerl (32) and Amanda Freed (21) last accomplished the feat in 2002. It was the ninth time in program history UCLA has had a pair of 20-game winners in a single season. Faraimo and Azevedo were one of just two duos to each have 20 wins last season (Oklahoma's Hope Trautwein and Jordy Bahl).
Good Things Come in Threes
UCLA's roster totes three of the last four Pac-12 Batting Champions in Aaliyah Jordan (2018), Kelli Godin (2019) and Janelle Meoño (2021). All three players won the award as freshmen. Jordan won the title with a .429 batting average (84 hits), Godin with a .418 average (56 hits) and Meoño with a .439 average (72 hits). Jordan's 84 hits in 2018 rank t-8th for a single season in UCLA history.
Seventh Year
Aaliyah Jordan returns for her seventh year in Westwood in 2023. She has the opportunity to continue climbing UCLA's record book in several categories: RBI (7th, 197), doubles (3rd, 60), hits (21st, 237), total bases (11th, 419) and slugging percentage (5th, .688).
Savvy Savi
Savannah Pola enters her sophomore season following a strong freshman campaign which yielded All-Pac-12 Third Team, Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and NFCA West All-Region accolades. Pola, a Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Finalist, hit for a .342 batting average and ranked second on the squad with 15 doubles. She hit a walk-off single versus Florida on June 5 at the Women's College World Series to secure an 8-0 mercy-rule victory. The three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week had a six-RBI outing with two doubles and a homer versus Texas A&M on March 5.
Brady Loves the Postseason
One of the main sticks in the Bruins' lineup from 2022 looks to carry her momentum from last season into 2023. Brady boasts a lifetime .728 slugging percentage with six home runs in the postseason. At the 2022 WCWS alone, Brady recorded 14 total bases, eight of which came on her two blasts against No. 1 Oklahoma on June 6.
Perez Legacy
Thursday's game versus Cal State Fullerton will mark the first time since 2014 (three presidential election cycles) that one of the Perez sisters โ Kylee Perez (2015-18) and Briana Perez (2018-22) โ isn't in the Bruin dugout. Briana started in every one of her UCLA-record 264 games played (tied with Stacey Nuveman). Briana started 263 of her 264 games at shortstop, including 162 straight games to end her collegiate career. No other Bruin has won more home games than Briana Perez with 113. Perez ended her career by winning UCLA's first-ever Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award.
Briana and Kylee Perez are the only sister duo to have 300 career hits for the same NCAA Division I program. Of sister duos to each rack up 300 career hits are the Perez sisters, Sydney Romero (Oklahoma) and Sierra Romero (Michigan) as well as Sydni and Cortni Emanuel from Georgia (Sydni played one season at Texas Tech).
Remembering Stacy Winsberg
Stacy Winsberg, a member of the UCLA softball team from 1982-1985, was the Bruins' primary left fielder on three NCAA Championship teams (1982, 1984 and 1985). Winsberg passed away in December 2001 following a battle with lung cancer. Winsberg was instrumental in cementing UCLA's legacy as one of the premier softball programs in the country as a two-time ASA All-American in 1984 and 1985. Winsberg also served as the strength and condition coach for the U.S. Women's Softball National Team at the 1999 Pan American Games and 2000 Olympics. In 1993, she was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Hall of Fame.
Series Histories at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament
โข Cal State Fullerton: UCLA leads the all-time series over longtime Southern California rival Cal State Fullerton, 55-34-1, dating back to 1980. Inouye-Perez is 21-3 all-time against the Titans. The two squads have met a total of 22 times in the NCAA Tournament (UCLA leads 17-5) and five times at the WCWS (UCLA leads 3-2). The Bruins have won 16 out of their last 17 meetings with the Titans with the last loss coming in extra innings on May 19, 2018 (3-2, L). In their most recent run in, UCLA disposed of Cal State Fullerton, 13-0, in five innings in a game that featured a 2-RBI triple from Maya Brady.
โข CSUย Bakersfield: UCLA is an undefeated 11-0 all-time against the Roadrunners dating back to 2008. The Bruins are averaging 13.25 runs scored in their last four meetings with CSU Bakersfield.
โข Loyola Marymount: UCLA leads the all-time series over Loyola Marymount, 29-1, dating back to 1987. Inouye-Perez is 11-1 all-time versus the Lions. Serving as head coach for Loyola Marymount is former Bruin standout and Olympian Tairia (Mims) Flowers, who has turned around the program in record time after taking over in 2021 following a stint at CSUN. Just last season, the Bruins and Lions met in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional.
โข San Diego: UCLA leads the all-time series over San Diego, 12-0, dating back to 1999. Each meeting over the last 20 years has
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Key Notes About UCLA
โข The Bruins have returned two of their top five main contributors in the lineup and their ace from last season's squad. UCLA went 51-10 last year, advancing to the Women's College World Series for a seventh consecutive season and finishing t-3rd. Veteran players back this season include seventh year Aaliyah Jordan and redshirt seniors Megan Faraimo, Anna Vines and Kelli Godin. All four players helped the Bruins win their most recent NCAA Championship in 2019. UCLA has also returned redshirt juniors Maya Brady, Seneca Curo and sophomore Savannah Pola.
โข UCLA added 11 total newcomers to the roster this season for its most in program history (previously was eight). Four of the new Bruins are transfers: Janelle Meoño (OF) and Sharlize Palacios (C) from Arizona and Brooke Yanez (LHP) and Rachel Cid (INF) from Oregon. The seven freshmen include utilities Kennedy Powell and Megan Grant, pitcher Taylor Tinsley, catcher Alexis Ramirez and infielders Rylee Pinedo, Jordan Woolery and Ramsey Suarez.
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Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament Schedule
| Date | Day | Home vs. Away | Time (PT) | Watch |
| 02/09/2023 | Thu. | UCLA vs. Cal State Fullerton | 7 p.m. | UCLA Live Stream |
| 02/10/2023 | Fri. | Utah State vs. Cal State Fullerton | 2 p.m. | -- |
| 02/10/2023 | Fri. | Utah State vs. CSU Bakersfield | 4:30 p.m. | -- |
| 02/10/2023 | Fri. | UCLA vs. CSU Bakersfield | 7 p.m. | -- |
| 02/11/2023 | Sat. | Utah State vs. Loyola Marymount | 10 a.m. | -- |
| 02/11/2023 | Sat. | Utah State vs. CSU Bakersfield | 12:30 p.m. | -- |
| 02/11/2023 | Sat. | UCLA vs. Loyola Marymount | 3 p.m. | UCLA Live Stream |
| 02/11/2023 | Sat. | UCLA vs. CSU Bakersfield | 5:30 p.m. | UCLA Live Stream |
| 02/12/2023 | Sun. | UCLA vs. San Diego (DH) | 10 a.m. | -- |
| 02/12/2023 | Sun. | UCLA vs. San Diego (DH) | 12:30ย p.m. | -- |
Season Openers
In her 16 seasons as head coach (2007-Pres.), Kelly Inouye-Perez has gone 14-2 in season-openers. Last year, the Bruins dominated CSUN in a 22-0 shutout victory, tying the record for most runs scored by UCLA in an opener. The 22-0 win was the first 20+ margin of victory since a 20-0 triumph over UC Riverside on Feb. 5, 2003. It was also tied for the third-most runs in a single game in program history. Starting pitcher Holly Azevedo secured the first individual no-hitter of her career in that outing. Inouye-Perez's last loss on opening day was at the hands of Purdue on Feb. 7, 2009 (2-1, L).
History & Tradition
The 2023 season marks the 48th year of Bruin softball (first was 1975). In addition, this marks the 29th year UCLA has called Easton Stadium home, first opening its gates to the public on Feb. 19, 1994. The stadium sits on the same plot of land as Sunset Field, the original on-campus facility utilized by the program since 1979. In all, the Bruins have won a nation-leading 12 NCAA Championships and have won a national title in every decade dating back to the 1970s (1978 title was under the umbrella of the AIAW). UCLA was the first program to repeat NCAA Championships in 1984 and 1985, and was the first to three-peat in 1988, 1989 and 1990.
The Bruins' Schedule
โข UCLA will play a 56-game regular-season schedule with 26 games against 14 opponents ranked in the NFCA Coaches preseason top 25 poll. The Bruins will play five of the eight teams from last year's Women's College World Series: Florida (Feb. 23), Northwestern (Feb. 25), Oklahoma (Feb. 26), Oregon State (April 6-8) and Arizona (April 14-16).
โข Following the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament, the Bruins will return to three preseason tournament staples. From Feb. 16-19, UCLA will compete at the fourth-annual TaxAct Clearwater Invitational in Clearwater, Fla. (Feb. 16-19). The following week, the Bruins will head to Cathedral City for the 17th rendition of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic (Feb. 23-26). Concluding the preseason schedule is the Judi Garman Classic at Anderson Family Field in Fullerton, Calif. (March 3-5).
USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List
Senior Megan Faraimo and juniors Maya Brady and Sharlize Palacios were selected to the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List. Brady, a utility out of Thousand Oaks, Calif., was second on the squad with 15 home runs in 2022, two of which came on June 6 versus No. 1 Oklahoma at the Women's College World Series. Reigning Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Megan Faraimo tossed two solo perfect games (and one combined with Lauren Shaw) and led the conference in strikeouts (292) in 2022. Palacios helped Arizona to the WCWS as the team's starting catcher with 20 homers last season.
Preseason All-Pac-12 Team
Five UCLA players were named to the 2023 Preseason All-Pac-12 Team on Feb. 1: Maya Brady, Megan Faraimo, Aaliyah Jordan, Sharlize Palacios and Brooke Yanez. UCLA paced the conference with five of the 19 named to the team with the next-closest school being Washington with four selections.ย
Pac-12 Favorites
The Bruins were picked to finish first in the annual Pac-12 Softball Coaches' Preseason Poll. UCLA received eight of nine possible first-place votes in the preseason poll. Washington was the only other institution to receive a first-place vote. UCLA garnered a total of 64 points to secure its spot atop the preseason coaches poll for the third consecutive season and league-record 13th time overall (since 1999). The Bruins have not finished below third in the conference since 2013 (t-5th).
Preseason Polls
UCLA was tabbed at No. 2 in both the 2023 USA Today/NFCA Division I Preseason Coaches Poll and ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25. UCLA is tied with Arizona with 24 top-10 appearances in the NFCA preseason poll. It's the eighth-straight season the Bruins have been slotted in the top 10 of the preseason poll.
Golden Eagle Bruins
Faraimo, Brady and Palacios each represented Team USA on the U.S. Women's National Team over the offseason.
Faraimo: Competed in the Japan All-Star Series, The World Games in Birmingham, Ala., the Canada Cup and the Pan American Championship with fellow Bruin Rachel Garcia.
Palacios: Competed in the Japan All-Star Series and Canada Cup ... in 10 games across both events, she hit .471 (8-for-17) with two home runs, a triple and five RBI ... helped Team USA to a Canada Cup championship (.571 avg.).
Brady: Went 4-for-8 in the Japan All-Star Series.
Postseason Success
UCLA advanced to the Women's College World Series for the seventh year in a row in 2022, extending its longest active streak in the nation. The Bruins have appeared in the NCAA Tournament a record 37 total times, including 23 straight, and have missed out on just three occasions (last in 1998). UCLA is the winningest team in NCAA postseason history with a 233-64 (.785) record.
On the Biggest Stage โฆ
Three Bruins received All-Women's College World Series Tournament honors following the end of the 2022 season: Maya Brady, Megan Faraimo and Delanie Wisz.
Brady: Maya Brady led the Bruins with a .438 average and seven RBI at the WCWS. Brady recorded the second two-homer game of her career, going deep twice off Oklahoma on June 6 to force an "if necessary" game later that day.
Faraimo: Megan Faraimo had one of the most spectacular plays of the entire 2022 WCWS, putting on a show with both her arm and bat versus Northwestern. With the bases loaded and down 3-0 in the count to Rachel Lewis, Faraimo fired in three straight strikes to K the Big 10 Player of the Year. Just minutes later, she hit a solo bomb off Big 10 Pitcher of the Year Danielle Williams. Faraimo also handed No. 1 Oklahoma its third loss of the season later at the WCWS.
Wisz: Delanie Wisz opened the Bruins' first game against the Sooners with a home run in the first inning for her second longball in OKC. Her first came against No. 14 Texas on June 2.
Offseason Promotions
UCLA coaching greats Lisa Fernandez and Kirk Walker each received promotions to associate head coach roles this past offseason. Fernandez, now the Mark Kalmansohn UCLA Associate Head Softball Coach as of August 10, 2022, begins her 25th season on the Bruins' staff in 2023 (1997-99, 2007-Pres.). With Fernandez on the staff, UCLA has posted a 1,117-240-2 (.822) record and won five NCAA Championships. Fernandez has also been honored as a member of the NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year three times (2004, 2010, and 2019) and NFCA Regional CSOY seven times (last 2021). Arguably the greatest pitcher in softball history, Fernandez has coached nine Bruin hurlers to 20 NFCA All-American awards. Fernandez has led the Bruins to a top five nationally-ranked earned run average in every season since taking over as UCLA's pitching coach in 2019. In the Bruins' 2019 NCAA Championship campaign, Fernandez's staff dominated with a 1.43 earned run average, ranking second in the country.
Walker, who has helped lead UCLA to seven NCAA Championships, was promoted on Aug. 12. Walker has accumulated a coaching record of 780-144-1 (.843) over 21 years in Westwood, separated by two stints from 1984-94 and 2012-Pres. Walker has been a fixture in the third base coaches' box since his return to UCLA in 2012, contributing to the 2019 National Coaching Staff of the Year award and five NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year awards. Walker, who helped establish UCLA softball's early dynasty, was hired as the program's first-ever undergraduate assistant coach in 1985.
Five All-Americans
UCLA returns three former NFCA All-Americans from last year's squad in Maya Brady, Aaliyah Jordan and Megan Faraimo and added two more through the transfer portal this offseason in Janelle Meoño and Brooke Yanez.
Brady: Brady was an NFCA First Team All-American in 2021 and is a two-time All-Pac-12 honoree. The redshirt sophomore utility was the Bruins' everyday center fielder a season ago and recorded 13 multi-RBI games.
Jordan: Jordan is a two-time NFCA First Team All-American (2021, 2018) and is one of four members still remaining from the Bruins' 2019 NCAA Championship squad. Jordan missed the majority of last season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered at the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational. She is back in Westwood for her seventh year in 2023. She owns a career batting average of .389 and ranks third on UCLA's career doubles list with 60.
Faraimo: Faraimo is a two-time NFCA All-American after earning second team honors in 2022. She was the Bruins' ace last season with a 24-5 record and averaging a monstrous 10.32 K/7.
Meoño: Meoño was honored as an NFCA Third Team All-American in 2021 after claiming the Pac-12 Batting Champion title with a .442 batting average.
Yanez: Yanez was an NFCA Third Team All-American in her last season of action in 2021. That year, she was a 22-game winner with 268 strikeouts over 182.1 innings pitched as the ace of the Oregon Ducks' staff.
New Bruins
โข UCLA reloaded via recruiting and the transfer portal in 2023. Highlighting the Bruins' class of freshmen are utility Megan Grant, infielder Jordan Woolery and pitcher Taylor Tinsley.
โข Megan Grant was ranked as the No. 2 overall recruit in the country by Extra Inning Softball after starring four years at Aragon High School. She was named to the San Francisco Chronicle's 2022 All-Metro First Team and Mercury News' All-Bay Area Softball First Team her senior season. In 2021, Grant helped United States U18 Women's National Team win gold at both the WBSC U18 World Cup in Lima, Peru, and Junior Pan American Games in Barranquilla, Colombia.
โข The Bruins beefed up their rotation with the addition of Taylor Tinsley, who was ranked as the No. 1 pitcher and No. 2 overall recruit by Softball America. Tinsley was awarded First Team All-State each year of her high school career a George Walton Academy. She is UCLA's first player out of the state of Georgia (Lawrenceville).
โข Transferring to Westwood from Arizona are outfielder Janelle Meoño and catcher Sharlize Palacios. Palacios was a member of two WCWS squads for the Wildcats as their everyday designated player in 2021 and everyday catcher in 2022. In three seasons, she totaled 122 hits, 128 RBI and 39 home runs, including three grand slams as a freshman in 2020. Palacios collected All-Pac-12 First Team plaudits in 2022 and 2021. Meoño, a rangy and speedy outfielder, bat leadoff in 34 of her 35 games played last season. In her Pac-12 Batting Champion 2021 season, Meoño had a 27-game hitting streak.
โข Also coming via the portal from Oregon are left-handed pitcher Brooke Yanez and infielder Rachel Cid. Yanez is back to full health after missing the 2022 season due to injury. Yanez had impressive showings against the Bruins in the past. In 2021, she defeated UCLA twice when it was ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively. Yanez struck out 10 Bruins in a 3-1 win on Feb. 28 and threw a two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts on April 9.
Pitching Dominance
UCLA has led the Pac-12 in ERA and wins in each of the last four seasons. In 2022, the Bruins' pitching staff led the Pac-12 in nearly every statistical category: ERA (1.72), strikeouts (486), wins (51), opposing batting average (.180) and saves (12).
Megantron
Megan Faraimo earned the first Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year award of her career and was named to her third All-Pac-12 First Team in 2022. Faraimo was also a USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 25 Finalist for the second season in a row after boasting the her first 20-win season (24-5 record). Faraimo's 1.98 ERA and Pac-12-leading 292 strikeouts (8th in the country) earned her NFCA Second Team All-American honors. She also set a UCLA single-season record in saves (7).
Notes on Megan Faraimo: The tallest player on the squad at 6-foot, Faraimo owns a lifetime 1.45 ERA and is seventh on UCLA's career strikeouts list with 768. She owns a 72-13 career record. She has thrown four solo perfect games which ranks second all-time in program history behind Debbie Doom (1982-85, 6 perfect games). In her most recent perfect game versus CSU Bakersfield on March 11, 2022, Faraimo struck out all 15 batters she faced. Faraimo opened the game with 30 consecutive strikes. Her first ball came to the third batter of the third inning.
University of Pitchers Who Rake, Los Angeles
Megan Faraimo became the sixth player in UCLA history to pitch and hit a home run in the same Women's College World Series game when earned the win and went yard off Northwestern on June 10, 2022. She joins Rachel Garcia, Megan Langenfeld, Amanda Freed, Courtney Dale and Lisa Fernandez. Other Bruin hurlers with a rich history of doing "double duty" include Ally Carda and Jessica Hall.
20-Game Winners
Last season, Megan Faraimo (24-5) and Holly Azevedo (21-3) became the first 20-win Bruin pitching duo in 20 years. Keira Goerl (32) and Amanda Freed (21) last accomplished the feat in 2002. It was the ninth time in program history UCLA has had a pair of 20-game winners in a single season. Faraimo and Azevedo were one of just two duos to each have 20 wins last season (Oklahoma's Hope Trautwein and Jordy Bahl).
Good Things Come in Threes
UCLA's roster totes three of the last four Pac-12 Batting Champions in Aaliyah Jordan (2018), Kelli Godin (2019) and Janelle Meoño (2021). All three players won the award as freshmen. Jordan won the title with a .429 batting average (84 hits), Godin with a .418 average (56 hits) and Meoño with a .439 average (72 hits). Jordan's 84 hits in 2018 rank t-8th for a single season in UCLA history.
Seventh Year
Aaliyah Jordan returns for her seventh year in Westwood in 2023. She has the opportunity to continue climbing UCLA's record book in several categories: RBI (7th, 197), doubles (3rd, 60), hits (21st, 237), total bases (11th, 419) and slugging percentage (5th, .688).
Savvy Savi
Savannah Pola enters her sophomore season following a strong freshman campaign which yielded All-Pac-12 Third Team, Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and NFCA West All-Region accolades. Pola, a Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Finalist, hit for a .342 batting average and ranked second on the squad with 15 doubles. She hit a walk-off single versus Florida on June 5 at the Women's College World Series to secure an 8-0 mercy-rule victory. The three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week had a six-RBI outing with two doubles and a homer versus Texas A&M on March 5.
Brady Loves the Postseason
One of the main sticks in the Bruins' lineup from 2022 looks to carry her momentum from last season into 2023. Brady boasts a lifetime .728 slugging percentage with six home runs in the postseason. At the 2022 WCWS alone, Brady recorded 14 total bases, eight of which came on her two blasts against No. 1 Oklahoma on June 6.
Perez Legacy
Thursday's game versus Cal State Fullerton will mark the first time since 2014 (three presidential election cycles) that one of the Perez sisters โ Kylee Perez (2015-18) and Briana Perez (2018-22) โ isn't in the Bruin dugout. Briana started in every one of her UCLA-record 264 games played (tied with Stacey Nuveman). Briana started 263 of her 264 games at shortstop, including 162 straight games to end her collegiate career. No other Bruin has won more home games than Briana Perez with 113. Perez ended her career by winning UCLA's first-ever Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award.
Briana and Kylee Perez are the only sister duo to have 300 career hits for the same NCAA Division I program. Of sister duos to each rack up 300 career hits are the Perez sisters, Sydney Romero (Oklahoma) and Sierra Romero (Michigan) as well as Sydni and Cortni Emanuel from Georgia (Sydni played one season at Texas Tech).
Remembering Stacy Winsberg
Stacy Winsberg, a member of the UCLA softball team from 1982-1985, was the Bruins' primary left fielder on three NCAA Championship teams (1982, 1984 and 1985). Winsberg passed away in December 2001 following a battle with lung cancer. Winsberg was instrumental in cementing UCLA's legacy as one of the premier softball programs in the country as a two-time ASA All-American in 1984 and 1985. Winsberg also served as the strength and condition coach for the U.S. Women's Softball National Team at the 1999 Pan American Games and 2000 Olympics. In 1993, she was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Hall of Fame.
Series Histories at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament
โข Cal State Fullerton: UCLA leads the all-time series over longtime Southern California rival Cal State Fullerton, 55-34-1, dating back to 1980. Inouye-Perez is 21-3 all-time against the Titans. The two squads have met a total of 22 times in the NCAA Tournament (UCLA leads 17-5) and five times at the WCWS (UCLA leads 3-2). The Bruins have won 16 out of their last 17 meetings with the Titans with the last loss coming in extra innings on May 19, 2018 (3-2, L). In their most recent run in, UCLA disposed of Cal State Fullerton, 13-0, in five innings in a game that featured a 2-RBI triple from Maya Brady.
โข CSUย Bakersfield: UCLA is an undefeated 11-0 all-time against the Roadrunners dating back to 2008. The Bruins are averaging 13.25 runs scored in their last four meetings with CSU Bakersfield.
โข Loyola Marymount: UCLA leads the all-time series over Loyola Marymount, 29-1, dating back to 1987. Inouye-Perez is 11-1 all-time versus the Lions. Serving as head coach for Loyola Marymount is former Bruin standout and Olympian Tairia (Mims) Flowers, who has turned around the program in record time after taking over in 2021 following a stint at CSUN. Just last season, the Bruins and Lions met in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional.
โข San Diego: UCLA leads the all-time series over San Diego, 12-0, dating back to 1999. Each meeting over the last 20 years has
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