2026 WCWS: UCLA slugs past Arkansas in elimination game
If you blink, you’ll miss the UCLA lineup turn a game upside down. The historic offense exploded in the second inning and never looked back in UCLA’s 11-0 win over Arkansas.
The Bruins scored nine runs in the second, adding three more home runs to their 200-plus total. Aleena Garcia led off the inning with her 22nd homer of the season. Soo-Jin Berry stayed hot, hitting her fourth home run since the start of the Big Ten Tournament. Her opposite field three-run shot pushed the lead to four.
“I think I’ve just been trusting my process, like a lot more than I was before,” Berry said. “I feel like before I was really, like, anxious and just trying to force something to happen. After I, like, let loose and leaned a little bit more on my teammates to just trust me, I think that kind of helped me to just relax and just do what I do.”
Megan Grant cemented herself in the UCLA record books. Grant’s NCAA record 42nd home run of the season was also her 91st of her career, passing Stacey Nuveman for the most ever by a Bruin. The 260-foot blast made it seven runs, and UCLA kept batting around.
“I’m just incredibly honored. Stacey Nuveman was a powerhouse when she played,” Grant said. “To be able to say my name is next to hers, I’m truly grateful for it.”
Kaniya Bragg blasted a ball to right field, hitting the top of the wall and coming back into play with wicked backspin. After a conversation among the umpiring crew, they correctly ruled it a two-out, two-run double, extending the lead to nine.
“The experience we have here at the World Series is priceless,” UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “It’s tough. It’s tough getting out here in front of a big crowd, being on a big stage. You’ve been waiting for it your whole life. I have a lot of young Bruins that are experiencing it for the first time. It’s a big strength of our program that freshmen come in and play.
“Everybody got sped up a little bit yesterday. We made a commitment to be able to come in and slow the game down, stick to our training of having discipline at the plate so you can get a good cut on a pitch.
“They have simplified it to that point, which is why the home runs have come, and I’ve reminded them of that. We’re not trying to hit home runs, we’re trying to have quality at-bats. And as Coach Lisa (Fernandez) always tells all of them, if you swing at strikes, you increase your chances of getting a good hit and squaring a ball up greatly. Sounds sarcastic, but Lisa is not sarcastic. She’s very direct with what the game plan is.”
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“Very proud to be able to see them. I think that’s one of the best things as a coach to be able to see your team settle in. I always say that. The team that settles in gives themselves the best chance to win.”
It wasn’t totally clear who would start in the circle for Arkansas, but in the end, it didn’t seem to matter. Neither Payton Burnham or Saylor Timmerman made it out of that second inning. Robyn Herron was able to finally stop the rally, but she allowed the double to Bragg and two more runs after that. Jolyna Lamar added a solo homer in the fifth for UCLA.
This was also the perfect storm for Taylor Tinsley. She threw a five-inning shutout, allowing three hits and, most importantly, only needing 61 pitches to get through it.
The Hogs’ first run to the Women’s College World Series comes to an end. While the Bruins will await the loser of Texas Tech-Tennessee on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel was very proud of the journey of the 2026 season.
“I was just full of pride and full of love for everyone,” she said. “Like they said, everyone that came before, we had so many alums show up, just be so proud to celebrate this program and the team that made it because they’ve been knocking and they’ve poured their hearts into this program so this could happen.
“I look up and I see our families, I see our university, our athletic director, everybody up there, fans. Waiting, I got a text that just said, Thanks for giving us something to believe in and follow. I think that’s the beauty of the fans, is that they believe in this group and they’re proud of this group. They show up. We knew that they would. It’s only going to grow from here.”
