COLUMBIA, S.C. — Another umpire might have called Jessica Clements out and that would have ended the top of the fifth inning for UCLA. The situation was one of debate, whether or not Clements had been obstructed on the base path by South Carolina. Clements was tagged out after tripping over the Gamecock, but an umpire ruled it was all accidental, and sent Clements back to third base with two outs remaining. Then Jordan Woolery singled on the next pitch the Gamecocks offered, sending Clements home for good and adding to the run total for the Bruins.
That’s just one example of what UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez calls “Bruin Magic” and how it showed itself time and time again for her Bruins in a Super Regional matchup with South Carolina.
Woolery had been the orchestrator of more “Bruin Magic” the day before, when she connected on the first pitch of the day Sam Gress threw — a low inside offering — and drove it clear over the left field wall. Woolery’s two-run dinger gave UCLA a walk-off win and ended a short slump for the junior third baseman, as she had gone 0-for-6 across each of her previous at-bats at Columbia’s Beckham Field.
“The one thing that I told the team was, we’re going to get an opportunity to have a last punch today,” Inouye-Perez said Saturday. “And we have a thing — we believe in Bruin Magic. And great things can happen when you come together and they play as a team.”
Woolery added: “This team is built on love.”
Whether it was indeed some sort of higher power, or simply UCLA playing some damn good softball in the moments where it mattered most, the Bruins prevailed on the road over higher seeded South Carolina in three games, punching their ticket to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City for an NCAA-record 33rd time in program history.
After nearly getting run-ruled in Game One, losing 9-2, UCLA took the next two games of the series, 5-4 and 5-0.
The Bruins are going to Oklahoma City for the 18th time this century.
Meanwhile, South Carolina’s storybook season, where they won 44 games under first-year coach and alum Ashley Chastain Woodard, comes to an end. The Gamecocks haven’t been to a World Series since 1997, before their coach’s tenure as a player.
“Obviously there’s a ton of heartbreak and disappointment that we didn’t make it to Oklahoma and the World Series, which is where this program belongs — 100 percent, it’s where it belongs and it’s good enough to be there,” Chastain Woodard said while fighting back tears on Sunday. “We’re really proud of our logo and everything we accomplished this year. Hats off to UCLA. They made it tough on us today, and I wish them nothing but the best in the postseason.”
The Gamecocks will probably think a lot about that Game Two defeat, where they had a three-run lead entering the seventh inning before that “Bruin Magic” struck.
Before her bottom-of-the-seventh at-bat that day, UCLA Director of Player Development and Data Analytics Will Oldham told Kaitlyn Terry, “The first pitch is in your wheelhouse.” Terry then outwitted the Gamecocks’ shift and sent the ball to deep right-center for a triple, scoring Taylor Stephens. Savannah Pola then singled, driving in Terry and setting the stage for Woolery’s heroics.
“Give us one pitch. Just one pitch. It’s not about three outs or the bottom of the seventh or what the score is. Give us one pitch, and anything can happen. And I think that’s the brilliance of our sport,” Inouye-Perez said. “It’s not a time sport. You have an opportunity if you just have one pitch.”
But earlier in that game, an absent-minded mistake cost South Carolina the chance to score more runs. After grounding into a fielder’s choice, resulting in an out at the plate, Karley Shelton reached first safely, but then walked into the dugout. She thought she was hitting with two outs, making the play at the plate the third — but only in her mind. In reality, there was only one out on the board, making the out at home the second. Karley walking into the dugout resulted in an automatic third out, and South Carolina left a runner on third base.
Was that “Bruin Magic,” or just a massive error by one Gamecock?
Either way, UCLA benefitted in a big way.
“Bruin Magic is a belief that anything can happen when we pull together,” Inouye-Perez said. “I talk about being able to get everyone going in the same direction… We really focus on being in the moment, be where your feet are, and the Bruin Magic is literally just the belief that we will win this game. And that’s something that has been a big part of the history of this program.”
She continued: “To be able to have this team do it in this big moment is a big part of why you come to UCLA. Because we practice this, we practice bottom-of-the-seventh with an opportunity. Then you got to really hone in and have quality at-bats and pass the bat. Together, as a team, from the dugout to everybody who got to the plate, everyone was heading in the same direction with the belief that we could win this.”
Up two runs entering the bottom of the sixth inning in Sunday’s decisive contest, the Bruins were loose and confident. “Cotton-Eyed Joe” played from the loudspeakers and UCLA’s trio of outfielders danced on South Carolina’s logo as Terry warmed up in the circle. That act might’ve come across as taunting the Softball Gods.
Terry walked the first South Carolina batter, and the next two batters sent fly balls to the warning track. Both balls landed safely in UCLA’s mitts, but they could have easily been homers if the wind was blowing in the Gamecocks’ favor.
“Yeah, they got on the pitch, but I knew (outfielder Liesl Osteen) was going to be there, and at the end of the day, she was there,” Terry said with a smirk.
Taylor Tinsley relieved Terry and gave up an infield single to Lexi Winters before getting a crucial third out by fanning Ella Chancey on a full count, silencing a rowdy crowd of South Carolina supporters.
In the bottom of the seventh, Terry gave up a lead-off single, but then sat the next three batters down with a line out — caught miraculously by freshman shortstop Kaniya Bragg with a highlight reel-worthy effort — a strike out and then a pop out. The Bruins flooded out of the dugout and rushed the field in celebration, yelling and hugging and knowing where they were going next: the Women’s College World Series.
“We say the Bruin Magic belief, but it’s the people that we recruit, the student athletes that we recruit, come to UCLA for these moments to be able to come together and have the opportunity to get back to OKC,” Inouye-Perez said Sunday. “So I couldn’t be more proud for this group.”
The Bruins might as well buy property in Oklahoma City. They know the stage well and the eight-team World Series of college softball has been played without the Bruins just once since 2015.
Under Inouye-Perez, now in her 19th season as the Bruins’ skipper, UCLA has captured a pair of World Series titles, winning it all in 2010 and 2019. A former UCLA catcher, she’s carried on the tradition of winning at a high level that was established by her predecessors, Sharron Backus and Sue Enquist. Inouye-Perez was an assistant coach under both of them. In all, UCLA has 13 World Series titles — a figure that includes the vacated 1995 championship.
While Backus and Enquist had to grapple with NCAA sanctions, they didn’t have to deal with three things that have changed this game — and every other sport in college athletics — so much: the transfer portal, NIL and conference realignment.
Through it all though, a constant has remained: UCLA is still one of college softball’s signature programs, and “Bruin Magic” is alive and well.
