UCLA vows to brush off Game 1 Super Regional loss to South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The streak is over, but not the season.

UCLA softball’s run of six consecutive victories in Super Regional games dating to 2021 ended with a 9-2 loss to South Carolina in Game 1 of the Columbia Super Regional at Beckham Field.

“The opponent did a better job of executing the game plan today,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “The best part about postseason is it’s a best two out of three. We look forward to getting back out there tomorrow.”

South Carolina (44-15) tagged UCLA (52-11) starting pitcher Kaitlyn Terry with five runs in the first two innings and added two apiece in the fifth and sixth off reliever Addisen Fisher.

Catcher Lexi Winters opened the scoring by the thinnest of margins, hitting a two-run home run off the top of the wall. After Brooke Blankenship’s RBI single tacked on one more run in the first, South Carolina star slugger Arianna Rodi delivered a two-run single in the second inning to knock Terry from the circle. South Carolina scored seven of its nine runs in the game with two outs, following on a streak of 11 consecutive two-out runs to end last week’s regional.

“Patience and short, compact swings,” Inouye-Perez said when asked about the key to South Carolina’s offense. “At the end of the day, I think it’s more about they did a great job of executing versus us not being able to do what we do.”

UCLA put two runs back in the fourth off RBI hits by Alexis Ramirez and Sofia Mujica, knocking South Carolina starter Jori Heard from the game. Heard retired 26 of 27 batters she faced in the regional, but the Bruins finally created some pressure and forced South Carolina coach Ashley Chastain Woodard to go to her bullpen.

“Credit to them making good pitches,” Ramirez said. “But I do believe that we were having good at-bats, quality at-bats, putting good swings on pitches that we were prepared to hit, so it’s just staying within ourselves and sticking to our plan.”

Reliever Sam Gress escaped the fourth inning, but allowed back-to-back singles leading off the fifth. Those hits brought UCLA’s slugging duo of Jordan Woolery to the plate one swing away from tying the game, but Gress shut down the rally. She struck out both power hitters and induced a foul pop-up from Rylee Slimp, stranding both runners and ending UCLA’s last big chance to get back in the game.

“I know for them it was big to be able to get past that,” Inouye-Perez said. “But for us, we have great faith in the hitters that are behind them, and I think that’s what we’re going to need for postseason is we’re not relying on just any one [hitter].”

Abigail Knight delivered the big blow off Fisher with a two-run double in the fifth, and the Gamecocks nearly ended the afternoon early on the run rule with the winning run reaching scoring position in the sixth. South Carolina has only allowed four total runs through four NCAA Tournament games, and Gress only allowed one hit over the final two innings to carry South Carolina to its first Super Regional victory in program history.

This is just the fourth time in 15 Super Regional appearances UCLA has lost game one of the series. In all three instances UCLA at least won Game 2 and rallied to win the series during the past two appearances. UCLA took the final two games from Virginia Tech in 2021 and advanced to the Women’s College World Series after losing Game 1 at Oregon in 2016, the only time the program has been in this situation away from home.

“We have a saying that you can only live in one time zone,” Inouye-Perez said. “The past is as old as dirt and has no control over tomorrow. We have to be where our feet are. The plan was to come out and win two ballgames, and that plan hasn’t changed.”

Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 10 a.m. PDT on Saturday and will air on ESPN.