Championship-caliber teams often never let their opponents breathe.
And the Bruins suffocated their opponent, outscoring them 45-1 throughout a three-game series sweep.
No. 8 UCLA Softball (37-5, 16-2 Big Ten) defeated Illinois (11-31, 2-12) three times in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois last weekend to extend its winning streak to eight games.
While the Bruins’ bats have shone, there is no doubt that struggles in the circle persist.
The rotation has allowed 173 runs and a 4.27 ERA, which ranks No. 135 in the nation.
But this weekend proved different.
The Bruin pitchers allowed just one run across the series and garnered two shutout wins. Senior Taylor Tinsley earned her No. 20 win of the season, sophomore Brynne Nally logged her first shutout game and redshirt junior Sydney Somerndike gained her sixth win of the year.
This Big Ten matchup appeared to lack fanfare through Friday’s first six frames.
But as the Bruins entered the seventh inning with a 3-0 lead, the advantage swelled to 17 in the final frame.
UCLA opened the seventh with a two-run, one-out blast from senior utility Megan Grant. Senior infielder Jordan Woolery went deep immediately after Grant on the first pitch she saw, resulting in back-to-back homers on back-to-back pitches. Sophomore infielder Kaniya Bragg followed up with a four-bagger of her own, giving UCLA back-to-back-to-back long balls.
Hits from redshirt junior catcher Alexis Ramirez and redshirt freshman infielder Aleena Garcia, along with freshman infielder Bri Alejandre reaching base on an error, allowed redshirt junior designated player/infielder Ramsey Suarez to plate more runners on a single.
“It’s just playing every pitch like a new pitch and separating pitch to pitch and trusting all the work,” Garcia said. “We have the best coaching staff in the country, and we know that they prepare us so well during the week, so when it comes game time, we go out there and be free and just do what we do best.”
And the Bruins did not take their foot off the gas.
As Bragg entered the batter’s box for the second time in the inning, she replicated what she did in her first at-bat with another blast. Ramirez followed her lead with a first-pitch home run, marking the second time in the same inning where back-to-back home runs happened on back-to-back pitches.
But the home run derby continued as Garcia sent a ball out of the park to mark the second back-to-back-to-back home run stretch of the inning.
The 14-run inning helped seal the Bruins’ triumph in the first game of the series, and the six home runs in one inning marked the second most in NCAA history. The Bruins hit through the batting order twice and finished the game with a program record-tying eight home runs.
Grant also achieved another historic feat when she hit her No. 27 four-bagger of the season Friday – breaking her own home run record of 26, which she set in 2025.
“Overall, grateful for what UCLA has done for me in giving back in the best way I possibly can, and this program is so rich and so historic, so I’m grateful to be a little part of that overall,” Grant said after breaking her own single-season home run record.
The Bruins’ dominance did not just end Friday.
After a scoreless first two frames from both teams, UCLA picked up right where it left off the night before, tallying bombs from Woolery and Alejandre, giving the Bruins a commanding 6-0 lead entering the fourth inning.
Somerndike held the Fighting Illini to just three hits and one run as she watched her team add four more runs to clinch the six-inning, run-rule finish.
As day three rolled around, UCLA kept raking at the plate, taking a dominant 7-0 lead in the top of the first inning with home runs from Garcia, sophomore catcher Sofia Mujica and freshman utility Jolyna Lamar.
With a scoreless second and third frame, the Bruins picked it up again in the top of the fourth inning, where Grant and Garcia’s deep shots helped extend the squad’s lead to 14-0.
The Bruins scored four more in the top of the fifth inning to secure an 18-0 victory, tying for second for the most runs the team has scored in a game this season.
UCLA will take on multiple midweek matchups this week with contests against Cal Baptist on Tuesday and Long Beach State on Wednesday.
“Sometimes the best form of practice could be gameday situations,” coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, where we’re playing at this time of the year. We’re continuing to practice our game, and our goal is to be our best at the end.”
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