Saturday, March 29
College Park, MD
11:00 AM (PT)
UCLA
31-5, 6-1
6
at
1
Maryland
15-17, 3-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
UCLA
0
0
0
0
0
3
3
6
6
0
Maryland
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
2
0
Freshman INF Kaniya Bragg
Photo by: Vinny Lavalsiti
UCLA Shells Terrapins in Series-Clinching Win
March 29, 2025 | Softball
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The No. 7-ranked UCLA softball team used three late-game home runs to defeat Maryland, 6-1, and secure a Big Ten Conference series win in front of a record crowd of 1,200 fans at UMD Softball Complex Saturday afternoon.
Junior third baseman Jordan Woolery recorded the Bruins' (31-6, 6-1 Big Ten) breakthrough hit with a solo homer that squeaked over the center field fence to break a scoreless tie in the sixth inning. Freshman Kaniya Bragg hit a two-run homer later in the sixth and junior Megan Grant added key insurance with her second three-run homer of the series in the seventh.
UCLA was unable to manufacture any runs through the first five innings, hitting into a season-high three double plays. Junior starting pitcher Taylor Tinsley held the Terrapins' (15-17, 3-6 Big Ten) at bay until the Bruins' offensive outburst. The right-hander from Lawrenceville, Ga. took a perfect game bid into the sixth inning before allowing her first two baserunners of the contest (both hits). Tinsley struck out nine batters over her 6.0-inning outing en route to earning her seventh win of the season.
"(Tinsley's performance) was awesome to watch," Woolery said postgame. "She honestly motivated me after her big strikeout the inning before my home run to help get it going. I love watcher her do her thing, and to see all the hard work come to fruition, it's great to see."
Woolery finished the game 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored. She improved her conference-leading home run total to 16 and RBI total to 54.
"I think just being patient as a team and surrendering to the process," said Woolery when asked what she learned from her previous at-bats prior to her home run. "Coach Lisa (Fernandez) told us 'just keep swinging' throughout the whole game and that resonated with us as an offense. Today showed a lot of relentlessness as a team. We kept applying pressure from the first inning to last."
Grant worked her second walk of the game in the sixth after Woolery's homer to bring Bragg to the plate. Bragg unloaded on the first pitch of her at-bat for a no-doubter home run out to right center, marking her fifth longball of the season.
The Terrapins answered the Bruins with one run off two hits in the bottom half of the sixth. Second baseman Madison Runyan finally put Maryland in the hit column with a one-out double. Runyan came around to score on a single to left field by leadoff hitter Mazie MacFarlane. Tinsley hit a Terrapin batter later in the inning to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs in the form of No. 3 hitter Sydney Lewis. Lewis hit a high fly ball to left center that drifted to the wall where center fielder Jessica Clements grabbed the final out.
Walks to right fielder Kaitlyn Terry and Woolery set up Grant's opposite field three-run shot in the seventh inning to push the lead to its final tally of 6-1. Grant has recorded nine RBIs through the first two games of the series versus Maryland, including her career-high-tying six RBI performance in game one. She ranks second behind fellow Bay Area native Woolery with 15 home runs on the season.
Freshman Addisen Fisher closed out the game with a scoreless inning of relief in the seventh.
Next Up
UCLA goes for its second Big Ten series sweep tomorrow when it faces Maryland at 9 a.m. (PT)/12 p.m. (ET) at UMD Softball Complex. The game is available for viewing on Big Ten Plus.
Junior third baseman Jordan Woolery recorded the Bruins' (31-6, 6-1 Big Ten) breakthrough hit with a solo homer that squeaked over the center field fence to break a scoreless tie in the sixth inning. Freshman Kaniya Bragg hit a two-run homer later in the sixth and junior Megan Grant added key insurance with her second three-run homer of the series in the seventh.
UCLA was unable to manufacture any runs through the first five innings, hitting into a season-high three double plays. Junior starting pitcher Taylor Tinsley held the Terrapins' (15-17, 3-6 Big Ten) at bay until the Bruins' offensive outburst. The right-hander from Lawrenceville, Ga. took a perfect game bid into the sixth inning before allowing her first two baserunners of the contest (both hits). Tinsley struck out nine batters over her 6.0-inning outing en route to earning her seventh win of the season.
"(Tinsley's performance) was awesome to watch," Woolery said postgame. "She honestly motivated me after her big strikeout the inning before my home run to help get it going. I love watcher her do her thing, and to see all the hard work come to fruition, it's great to see."
Woolery finished the game 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored. She improved her conference-leading home run total to 16 and RBI total to 54.
"I think just being patient as a team and surrendering to the process," said Woolery when asked what she learned from her previous at-bats prior to her home run. "Coach Lisa (Fernandez) told us 'just keep swinging' throughout the whole game and that resonated with us as an offense. Today showed a lot of relentlessness as a team. We kept applying pressure from the first inning to last."
Grant worked her second walk of the game in the sixth after Woolery's homer to bring Bragg to the plate. Bragg unloaded on the first pitch of her at-bat for a no-doubter home run out to right center, marking her fifth longball of the season.
The Terrapins answered the Bruins with one run off two hits in the bottom half of the sixth. Second baseman Madison Runyan finally put Maryland in the hit column with a one-out double. Runyan came around to score on a single to left field by leadoff hitter Mazie MacFarlane. Tinsley hit a Terrapin batter later in the inning to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs in the form of No. 3 hitter Sydney Lewis. Lewis hit a high fly ball to left center that drifted to the wall where center fielder Jessica Clements grabbed the final out.
Walks to right fielder Kaitlyn Terry and Woolery set up Grant's opposite field three-run shot in the seventh inning to push the lead to its final tally of 6-1. Grant has recorded nine RBIs through the first two games of the series versus Maryland, including her career-high-tying six RBI performance in game one. She ranks second behind fellow Bay Area native Woolery with 15 home runs on the season.
Freshman Addisen Fisher closed out the game with a scoreless inning of relief in the seventh.
Next Up
UCLA goes for its second Big Ten series sweep tomorrow when it faces Maryland at 9 a.m. (PT)/12 p.m. (ET) at UMD Softball Complex. The game is available for viewing on Big Ten Plus.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Tinsley, Taylor (7-2)
L: B. Godfrey (5-5)
Batting:
HR: Woolery, Jordan 1 ; Grant, Megan 1 ; Bragg, Kaniya 1
RBI: Woolery, Jordan 1 ; Grant, Megan 3 ; Bragg, Kaniya 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Woolery, Jordan 2 ; Grant, Megan 1 ; Pinedo, Rylee 1 ; Bragg, Kaniya 1 ; Terry, Kaitlyn 1
SB: Clements, Jessica 1
HBP: Bragg, Kaniya 1 ; Slimp, Rylee 1
Batting:
2B: M. Runyan 1
RBI: MacFarlane 1
Base Running:
RUNS: M. Runyan 1
SB: MacFarlane 1
HBP: M. Benson 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF/UTIL
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P/UTIL
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
P/OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
INF
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