For the second inning in a row, the Bruins had tying runs on base. 

But this time around, third baseman Jordan Woolery and first baseman Megan Grant were on deck – a junior tandem that broke UCLA’s single-season record for combined RBIs on Sunday.

And after trailing the Gamecocks for four innings, it seemed as if the program’s pair of First Team All-Americans would come in to save the day, just like they had done so many times before.

However, SEC All-Defensive Team selection Sam Gress sent the duo back to the Bruins’ dugout, leaving two runners stranded on base in the top of the fifth inning.

As No. 9 seed UCLA softball (52-11, 17-5 Big Ten) failed to capitalize on multiple opportunities to tie the game, No. 8 seed South Carolina (44-15, 13-11 SEC) took game one of the NCAA super regional by a score of 9-2 at the Carolina Softball Stadium on Friday morning in Columbia, South Carolina. Now, the Bruins must win on Saturday and Sunday to advance to the Women’s College World Series.

“We were having good at-bats, quality at bats, putting good swings on pitches that we were prepared to hit,” said redshirt sophomore designated player Alexis Ramirez. “Sometimes the ball just doesn’t fall.”

Woolery – a USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year top-10 finalist – went 0-for-3 at the plate, the first time she didn’t record a hit since UCLA’s loss in the Big Ten championship against Michigan. It also marked the first game Grant has not logged an RBI in this season’s NCAA tournament.

“The reason we’re sitting here today is because the two of them (Woolery and Grant) have done great things. But actually, the bigger reason why we’re sitting here in the super regional is because the team has been able to come up with runs in big situations,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez.

Meanwhile, the Gamecocks wasted no time showing why they are hosting the Bruins. After sophomore pitcher/outfielder Kaitlyn Terry struck out South Carolina’s single-season home run record-holder in Arianna Rodi, catcher Lexi Winters launched a two-run shot, giving the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead to start the game. Then, shortstop Brooke Blankenship put South Carolina up by three runs in the first inning with an RBI double.

While Terry may have survived her first matchup with Rodi, when she stepped up to the plate for the second time, the 2024 First Team All-American singled to left center – adding two more runs to the Gamecocks’ lead.

Down by five runs, freshman pitcher/utility Addisen Fisher replaced Terry in the circle. However, the 2025 All-Big Ten Freshman Team selection was not much of a solution, as Fisher allowed the Gamecocks to score four more runs through the last 4.1 innings of the affair.

“They did a good job of just hitting good pitches,” Fisher said. “I’m excited to get another opportunity to play them again, and we’re just going to go out and play our game.”

In the top of the fourth, the Bruins’ bats started to wake up, as a pair of back-to-back singles from Grant and freshman left fielder Rylee Slimp kickstarted a two-run rally and marked UCLA’s first hits since senior second baseman Savannah Pola’s triple in the first inning.

Ramirez, who logged five RBIs through the regional last week, brought Grant home to put the Bruins on the scoreboard. 

As tying runs for UCLA stood on base for the first time in the game, South Carolina opted to switch to pitcher Jori Heard, who struck out three Bruins – including Woolery – for Gress.

However, the pitching change was not enough to silence freshman catcher Sofia Mujica’s bat. The USA national team member knocked an RBI single to narrow the Gamecocks’ lead to just three runs.

“The ability to have the bottom half like I got Sofia Mujica, who’s a freshman, who came up with two knocks today and an RBI. We’re able to do things, to turn things around,” Inouye-Perez said. “That’s a big part of the success. When you get to postseason, you’re not relying on any two.”

Ultimately, Gress later replaced Heard and held the Bruins scoreless for the rest of the game. UCLA barely escaped a run-rule defeat as South Carolina pulled off back-to-back two-run innings in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, spearheaded by Winters’ game-leading third RBI in the bottom of the sixth. 

“They (South Carolina) did a great job of executing versus us not being able to do what we do,” Inouye-Perez said. “Some balls kind of fell, and defensively, they fell where we weren’t – so the game is kind of crazy like that. And balls that we hit, they were positioned in a great place, and balls that they hit weren’t. It’s the game – the game we have no control over.”

With two South Carolina runners on base and one run away from a run-rule loss, Mujica tagged out the Gamecocks’ game-winning run at home base in the bottom of the sixth. 

But UCLA’s three pop flies in the top of the seventh ended the game, marking South Carolina’s first super regional win in program history and positioning the Gamecocks one game away from the WCWS.