The UCLA Bruins Women’s Softball team made quite the run this season. They were in the final few games to make a run for their 14th national title in school history. It came to a quick halt with back-to-back losses over the weekend. The Bruins lost 1-0 on Saturday to Oklahoma and then 3-1 on Sunday to Stanford.
The Bruins finished their season 43-12. After the game, Bruins head coach Kelly Inoyue-Perez was asked to reflect on the season. She had this to say, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times.
“When I put it all together, this is the greatest year of coaching I’ve experienced. Man, building belief, building trust, building a team that could fight. We were right where we needed to be, and we ran out of time.”
The Bruins started the season slow, with 3 wins in their first 7 games. After winning 30 of their final 35, they rank into two buzz-saw starting pitchers. On Saturday, Kelly Maxwell shut them out, and then NiJaree Canady held them to four hits on Sunday.
“I’ve never been so proud of a team.” 💙💛#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/pIgykFzQbn
— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) June 3, 2024
Maya Brady, who was once again an All-American, said this about the season:
“Just a dream. I feel like as a little girl you always look at the program, the coaching staff, the players. You think they are just untouchable”.
Stanford is part of the final four, with action wrapping up later this week.