This post was updated April 17 at 10:52 p.m.

The freshmen are doing more than just alright for the Bruins this season.

On opening day, UCLA softball started four freshmen – the program’s most since 2004.

“We’re definitely special,” said freshman catcher/designated player Sofia Mujica. “We have a toolbox with all the tools you need. We have infielders, we have outfielders, we have pitching, we have catching, we have power hitters, we have slappers, we have speed. Name it, we got it.”

And those freshmen have continued to excel throughout the season.

Infielder/utility Kaniya Bragg has a .336 batting average, while outfielder Rylee Slimp has logged a .398. Bragg and Slimp have followed up junior tandem infielder Jordan Woolery and utility Megan Grant in the batting lineup, consistently getting on base and driving in runs.

Bragg started the season at third base until fellow first-year, shortstop Aleena Garcia, went down with a season-ending arm injury. Garcia was batting .333 with nine RBIs in just 39 at-bats. And despite the loss of the shortstop’s fielding prowess, Bragg has filled her teammate’s shoes, contributing to the team’s .985 fielding percentage – good for second in the country.

“I started as a shortstop before I got here, and I got moved to third base,” Bragg said. “It was kind of a surprise (to be moved back to shortstop) because obviously nobody knew that was going to happen, but being able to have good teammates have my back and Aleena on the side just always being positive and always there for me is just really good.”

Bragg said the freshman class is a tight-knit group.

“Being able to have really close connections on the field and off the field, we’ve been able to do everything together, and we just do it as a team. It doesn’t even matter what we have to do. We just know we’re going to do it together,” Bragg said.

Sharing in the young crew’s success is pitcher/utility Addisen Fisher – who was named the 2024 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year in her senior year of high school. Joining her with national high school prestige is sophomore pitcher/outfielder Kaitlyn Terry, who was named 2021 and 2023 Gatorade Arizona Player of the Year. She said the whole class came in very comfortable.

“I talk with Addie a lot and just her being herself,” Terry said of the advice she’s given the Bruins’ newest pitcher. “Not try and play like anybody else, like us or like the older girls or something – just be yourself.”

Terry added that the pitching staff sees each other as equals, putting age and grade aside.

But the freshmen – especially at home plate – have looked up to two juniors: Woolery and Grant.

“Our junior class is very strong, and it helps, not only having them there as mentors but also leaders on the field,” Mujica said. “Jordan, Meg have definitely been a big part of that and just helping us freshmen adapt to the college life, and then through training, through fall, just getting the grind through. They’ve really been there, and they’ve always helped guide us in the right way.”

While Bragg’s welcome to collegiate softball moment happened when she first stepped on the the field, Mujica said hers came on the second weekend of the season – against top national talent.

“(For) Clearwater (Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational), Coach I (Kelly Inouye-Perez) had put me in to pinch hit in the Alabama game, and it was super crazy for me. It was bases juiced – I was going in for my first pinch hit opportunity, and I hit off the wall double, cleared the bases, got the go-ahead runs. That just clicked,” Mujica said. “My mind was like, ‘OK, the whole at-bat just changed from, ‘Oh, this is about me,’ to ‘Oh, I’m doing this for the Bruins and Bruin magic time. I’ve got to lock in right now.””