Cindy Ball-Malone returns home as UCF Softball takes aim at UCLA
Cindy Ball-Malone grew up 30 minutes from UCLA’s Easton Stadium. She watched her first softball game there — a UCLA-Arizona matchup that introduced her to perhaps the sport’s grandest rivalry. She received UCLA’s questionnaire and mailers in high school, the standard introductory material the program sends to prospects across Southern California.
But she was never recruited by the Bruins.
“I wasn’t ready for that. I wasn’t at that caliber. I learned who I was as a player at Pacific,” Ball-Malone said earlier this week. “And I think that’s also why I was ready to be a disruptor here, because we were little Pacific Tigers, top ten in the nation.”
Now, more than two decades later, the UCF head coach is heading back to the place she grew up — this time as the opposing coach in the NCAA Los Angeles Super Regional. UCF (41-17-1) faces No. 8 seed UCLA (50-8) in a best-of-three series beginning Friday at Easton Stadium, with Game 1 scheduled for 9 p.m. on ESPNU.
It’s the second Super Regional appearance in program history for the Knights, who punched their ticket by stunning No. 9 overall seed Florida State 4-2 last Sunday in Tallahassee. Freshman Tori Payne delivered six innings of one-run ball in the clincher, sophmore Beth Damon smashed a two-run homer early, then sophomore Izzy Mertes provided the decisive blow with a two-run home run in the fourth .
A homecoming with history
For Ball-Malone, the trip carries dimensions that go well beyond softball. She’s returning to her hometown region — Simi Valley, in Ventura County — where her entire extended family still lives.
“My very first softball game was going to a UCLA-Arizona game, which is, again, if you know the tradition of softball, that’s a really important series to watch,” Ball-Malone said. “They’re the Alabama of softball. Alabama football, like in softball, is kind of like growing up what I knew and what I was aware of.”
At Adolfo Camarillo High School, Ball-Malone’s high school teammate was Jessica Mendoza, who went on to star at Stanford, represented the United States at the 2004 Athens Olympics and now is an MLB analyst for ESPN.
Pacific shaped Ball-Malone’s disruptor mindset
Ball-Malone ultimately chose the University of the Pacific in Stockton, where coach Brian Kolze — who just retired in 2024 after 32 seasons — gave her an opportunity that defined her career. She became arguably the greatest two-way player in Tigers history: a .352 hitter with 11 home runs as a senior, 91 career wins in the circle with a 1.20 ERA, a two-time NFCA All-American and a nine-time record holder. Pacific qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times during her career, including in 2001 when Ball-Malone was at the peak of her powers.
That season, she went 33-9 and pitched Pacific to 50 wins — a program record. She beat Mendoza’s Stanford team 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament, then turned around the same day and pitched in the Regional Final with a Women’s College World Series berth on the line. The Tigers fell one win short of Oklahoma City.
“I didn’t get highly recruited by them,” Ball-Malone said of the Bruins. “I got the cool questionnaire and, you know, the mailers. But that’s okay. I still really appreciate and respect that program and all the players in it.”
Kolze later asked Ball-Malone to come back to Pacific as a pitching coach after she’d briefly played professionally, including in Italy. She earned her master’s in education while coaching, and eventually built a career that took her through Cal State Northridge, Washington, Boise State and finally to UCF in 2019. Her number was retired by Pacific. She was inducted into the school’s athletics hall of fame. And in 2026, she’s guiding the Knights to their second Super Regional in program history — against the program she grew up watching.
The word “disruptor” has become a battle cry this week.
“We know we’re going up against the giants,” Ball-Malone said. “We’re disruptors. The norm is for a program like UCLA to move past it and move on. If we’re true disruptors, then we’re going to take this task and this mission and just keep it our thing.”
UCLA presents a historic challenge
UCLA is averaging 10.83 runs per game and leads the nation with 193 home runs this season, including an NCAA single-season record 40 from senior Megan Grant and 34 more from senior Jordan Woolery. The Bruins are 50-8. UCF has never won a game against them in nine career meetings, and Ball-Malone is 0-3 against them personally.
But UCF went into Tallahassee this month and ended a 16-game losing streak to Florida State. The Knights beat three teams this season — then-No. 10 LSU, then-No. 12 Oklahoma State twice and then-No. 23 Arizona State twice — on the road against ranked opponents.
They’re a program that has learned to live in uncomfortable situations.
There are also personal ties to this matchup. Ball-Malone was recently hired as head coach of the Utah Talons in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (summer league that doesn’t conflict with college). Utah’s GM is Lisa Fernandez, who is UCLA’s associate head coach.
“I do have the opportunity to work with one of their coaches, with AUSL, Lisa Fernandez,” Ball-Malone said. “And so I think this is an exciting time. I’m honored to be able to have this opportunity. When you think about softball, it’s Lisa Fernandez.”
She’s also worked with several other former UCLA players.
“I’ve been able to be involved through my coaching career with Tairia Flowers, Natasha Watley, Caitlin Benyi, just all these names that come from that place and learn from them, too, while I was with them at Cal State Northridge.”
California connections at UCF
Several UCF players also hail from Southern California, including first-team All-Big 12 second baseman Sierra Humphreys of Corona, All-Big 12 second teamer and outfielder Izzy Mertes of Chatsworth, third baseman Coco Jaimes from Riverside and outfielder Samantha Rey from Salinas.
After LA was confirmed as their Super Regionals destination, Ball-Malone said the California contingent had already started celebrating the destination.
“We were all texting each other all the California songs, going back to Cali,” she said. “A big depth and core of our team comes from Southern California. So excited for them to be able to play there and have their family there, because they grew up wanting to play on that field, too.”
One pitch at a time
None of it changes the magnitude of what UCF faces. But Ball-Malone, who once threw all 17 innings of a marathon win over Cal State Northridge as a college sophomore, has always found ways to compete in spaces where nobody expected her to be.
“My entire family lives 30 minutes away from there,” she said. “I didn’t think I was ever going to be a coach. And here I am being able to bring this team from the home that I never expected to be called the East Coast, my home. And I love it. Our family loves it. And now we get to bring it both together.”
She paused, then added the line that matters most for what happens Friday night.
“The game does not know who’s supposed to win. And that’s what the coolest thing about this whole thing is. When the game starts, it’s just going to be about one pitch.”
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