This post was updated May 31 at 9:15 p.m.
Your past can come back to haunt you.
For the Bruins, that past was former Bruin-turned-Red Raider, Kaitlyn Terry.
And the Bruins’ powerful bats could not overcome the Red Raiders’ pitching.
No. 8 seed UCLA softball (53-10, 20-4 Big Ten) was eliminated by No. 11 seed Texas Tech (59-8, 21-3 Big 12) in an 8-7, nine-inning contest Sunday evening in the Women’s College World Series at Devon Park. UCLA overcame a 6-3 deficit in the seventh inning to send the game to extra innings but could not surmount an 8-6 margin in the ninth.
The game was tied 3-3 when Terry first entered the circle in the bottom of the third. Terry – who had seven strikeouts and allowed two earned runs – stayed in the circle until the bottom of the seventh.
And she helped Texas Tech take the lead at the plate in the top of the ninth, with an RBI double.
In the bottom of the seventh, Terry gave up a homer to redshirt junior pinch hitter Ramsey Suarez, who hammered her first home run of the WCWS. Coach Gerry Glasco pulled Terry – swapping his pitchers back and forth as he did in the NCAA super regional.
“It’s staying locked in, knowing that at any time either of us can go back in, and knowing that (we’re) going to have (each other’s) back no matter who’s in,” Terry said.
NiJaree Canady, a 2025 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 3 Finalist, entered the game and immediately allowed a single. While she limited senior utility Megan Grant to a flyout, she could not stop the second Bruin Bomber.
Senior infielder Jordan Woolery strode to the plate smiling, with two outs and UCLA’s season on the line.
Woolery blasted the second pitch she saw high into the Oklahoma City skies for her second two-run blast of the day to tie the game.
Terry returned to the game to close out the inning and keep the game tied.
But in the bottom of the ninth, after Woolery recorded her fifth RBI of the game on a single against Terry, Canady reentered the game with runners on first and second and one out.
“Before our last at-bat, I told Meg, ‘We’re made for this.’ I knew it was going to come down to us, and I’m grateful to be able to have the opportunity to play with her and be able to be together, especially in that last moment. It was very poetic,” Woolery said. “I knew that we were going to be able to end the way we wanted to end.”
With the Bruins trailing 8-7, Canady induced a flyout and ended the game with a blistering fastball that struck out freshman infielder Bri Alejandre.
And without Terry – who spent her first two years in Westwood – on their side, the Bruins relied solely on their ace.
Senior pitcher Taylor Tinsley threw 181 pitches, surpassing UCLA alumnus Rachel Garcia’s 179 pitches in the 2019 WCWS. The Lawrenceville, Georgia, local notched seven strikeouts, six walks and 14 hits allowed. The Bruins recorded 10 hits of their own and were struck out a season-high 14 times.
Tinsley allowed hits to the outfield on her first two pitches, allowing the Red Raiders to score their first run of the game.
In the bottom half of the frame, Woolery – with just her second longball of the NCAA tournament – blasted a two-run home run to take the lead.
Texas Tech tied it up with a home run in the second. Back-to-back singles and two walks gave the Red Raiders a 3-2 lead.
Terry was pulled out of the outfield to warm up in the bullpen after sophomore outfielder Rylee Slimp reached second on a hit that got past the pitcher/utility in left field in the bottom of the third.
While Canady struck out Grant for just her 13th time this season, she later hit a second batter in a row to knot the score.
Terry came in to shore things up with just one out and the bases loaded. She earned a strikeout and induced a flyout to get out of the third inning.
Terry recorded three strikeouts and six straight outs to retire her former teammates across her next two innings in the circle.
The Red Raiders built their lead to 5-3 as Tinsley gave up another homer. The Bruin ace subsequently loaded the bases with one out, and a sacrifice fly plated a sixth run in the sixth frame.
Pinch hitting to kickstart the bottom of the seventh, Suarez hit a 270-foot home run far into the outfield stands, which ended Terry’s first stint in the circle – prompting Canady to reenter.
Another pinch hitter, freshman Jazmine Leyva, stepped into the box for her 13th at-bat of the season, and she blooped the ball over the first baseman and into right field to reach first base with just her fifth hit of the year.
Slimp struck out, making way for Grant at the plate – representing the tying run. But Grant flew out, making way for Woolery’s eventual bases-clearing blast with two outs.
Terry reentered, and the pitcher/utility ended the seventh inning to set up extra innings.
In extra innings, the Bruins could not seal the deal – ending their record-setting season, along with the three Bruin seniors’ Westwood careers.
“All I wanted was them to have a great senior year. Yes, we wanted to be national champions, 100%, but we didn’t quit,” Inouye-Perez said.
