UCF’s historic 2026 softball season concluded May 23 with a Hollywood ending — just not a happy one.
UCLA (52-8) clinched its NCAA-record 34th trip to the Women’s College World Series at the Knights’ expense, completing a super regional sweep with a 14-4 victory at Easton Stadium in Los Angeles. Aleena Garcia homered and drove in a career-high seven RBIs, and Taylor Tinsley struck out 11 for her second win in as many nights.
The Bruins blasted four home runs, becoming the first team in Division I history to go deep 200 times in a single season.
UCF (41-19-1) drops to 0-4 all-time in NCAA super regional softball games, losing twice in 2022 to eventual national champion Oklahoma. Aubrey Evans gave the Knights their only lead of the series with a leadoff home run in the first inning.
“Team 25 left everything out on the table,” Evans said, referencing the Knights’ 25th year of Division I softball. “Fans saw that in our play. We never lost belief. We fought until the very end.”
Factoring in walks and hit batters, the Knights’ pitching staff issued 20 free passes in two nights. Megan Grant, sitting one home run shy of matching UCLA’s all-time career record, drew six walks alone in supers.
Here are three takeaways from the finale of the Los Angeles Super Regional.
Bottom of UCF order provides spark, ignites 5th-inning rally
UCF trailed 6-1 in the fifth inning as the odds increased of another run-rule defeat. But the bottom of the Knights’ order sparked a rally and inspired one final pushback against Tinsley and the Bruins.
Destiny Washington provided a pinch-hit single and reached third when Samantha Rey found a hole on the right side of the Bruin infield. Rey stole second, forcing an errant throw by Ramirez and an easy UCF run.
Evans lifted a sacrifice fly into foul ground along the left-field line to plate Rey.
Beth Damon and Izzy Mertes produced back-to-back hits, and Sierra Humphreys walked to reload the bases with two down. Freshman catcher Shyanne Irvin, who checked into the game as a defensive replacement a couple innings after Damon took a foul ball off the hand, missed a go-ahead grand slam by a handful of feet but worked a nine-pitch walk to cut the deficit to 6-4.
“We’re chippy, and we’re not going to think it’s over until there is no more games to be played,” UCF head coach Cindy Ball-Malone said. “That’s them in a nutshell. They don’t have to say it; they show it on the field.”
Tinsley escaped further damage when Coco Jaimes sliced a lineout to left field. UCLA answered back with three runs of its own in the sixth, courtesy of All-Big 12 shortstop Garcia’s 20th home run.
UCLA’s Kaniya Bragg suffers apparent, non-contact ankle injury
While the Bruins will head to Oklahoma City next week, there could be some concern over the availability of starting second baseman Kaniya Bragg.
Bragg, a sophomore from Garden Grove, California, limped off the diamond after fouling off a 1-2 pitch from UCF’s Isabella Vega. She appeared to twist her right ankle and was in tears before being removed.
Chosen to the All-Big Ten second team, Bragg went 0 for 3 in Saturday’s game after connecting on a critical three-run homer Friday. For the year, she is hitting .394 with 18 homers and 65 RBIs.
UCF should contend again in ’27, barring transfer portal losses
There is always the transfer-portal caveat in modern college athletics, but if Ball-Malone keeps this group of Knights together for 2027, there is every reason to believe it can take another crack at the WCWS.
Evans and Ashleigh Griffin are the only two seniors in the everyday lineup for the Knights. Damon, Mertes, Humphreys and Kendall Yarnell combined for 57 of the team’s program record 73 home runs this spring.
Tori Payne, who started Saturday’s game in the circle and pitched six innings in the decisive victory at Florida State, is a true freshman — as are Ava Stuewe, Reagan Vokoun and Hildie Dempsey, who was 6-0 with a 1.88 ERA in 41 innings before suffering a season-ending knee injury in late March. Vega, twice an All-Big 12 nominee, won 18 games as a redshirt sophomore.
UCF also signed a pair of blue-chip incoming freshmen, according to On3, in outfielders Kamryn Waters and Addison Poe. Both players ranked among the nation’s top 150 recruits for the 2026 graduating class.
“Maybe it didn’t happen this year, but we’re going to be there,” Ball-Malone said. “Being able to witness (Oklahoma and UCLA at supers), we’re going to be there. We are.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCLA completes super regional sweep, eliminates UCF softball
Reporting by Chris Boyle, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
