Alexis Ramirez was flying high during the Opening Weekend of her sophomore year.

She boasted a .455 batting average, hit a home run and recorded three runs along with five hits in just 11 at-bats.

But in just her fifth game of the 2024 campaign, the catcher/utility went down in right field and tore her ACL – ending her season and keeping her out of the first 31 games of 2025.

The minimal number of games played in 2024 allowed Ramirez to redshirt her second year, and she has now worked back to that same competitive level she boasted before her season-ending injury.

Since returning, Ramirez has played a key role in the Bruins’ postseason. Heading into UCLA’s record-breaking 33rd Women’s College World Series appearance, her batting average sat at .341, with 28 RBIs on 31 total hits.

Ramirez, who typically plays catcher or occupies the designated player role, said it’s been quite the journey back, but along the way, she’s earned gratitude for the sport she loves.

The redshirt sophomore had to relearn how to walk and then later run. And then she had to regain confidence in her movements, overcoming the fear of reinjuring her knee.

Ramirez said her teammates played a significant role in her recovery.

“I had some of the girls come and stay at the house and bring me lunch and coffee and things like that whenever I needed,” Ramirez said. “And they were always more than willing to drive me up and down when I couldn’t walk.”

Junior infielder Jordan Woolery said the team rallied around their catcher, whom she called a pillar of the program.

But the road to recovery wasn’t necessarily a smooth one.

Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez added that Ramirez experienced a number of setbacks, delaying her return to play.

“She wanted to come back and be more of a factor earlier in the season and then got a little frustrated with not being able to return as quickly as she wanted,” Inouye-Perez said. “She was playing the game, being able to hit without being able to turn left. Everybody knew it, so that was challenging.”

Her injury was overwhelming at first.

But when she went down, she was immediately grateful for her teammates’ support.

“The support that we have here is unimaginable. I remember telling my mom and dad, ‘I’m happy I got hurt here,’ just because the support, the doctors, the staff, our coaches, the girls, I felt nothing but love and support,” Ramirez said. “So even though it was very challenging and hard, the people that I had behind me were very pivotal in me being even here today.”

As a freshman, Ramirez was the back-up catcher behind former Bruin Sharlize Palacios, where she recorded 10 starts alongside seven total hits on the season – just two more than her total through only five games in 2024.

Inouye-Perez said there’s one word to describe Ramirez’s presence behind the plate – calm.

“She’s very calm. She’s very strong. She has an aura about her that is very confident and calming,” Inouye-Perez said. “She can take in information, and she gets people. So she’s got a uniqueness about her.”

UCLA rode with two freshman catchers – Maggie Daniel and Sofia Mujica – before Ramirez, nicknamed “Lefty,” returned.

“She brings such a good aura, and it makes it easy to play behind,” Woolery said. “These last few months with the freshmen behind the plate, I feel like I’m trying to be that calm presence, but it’s kind of hard for me because that’s not really my personality. But having Lefty back, I feel like she’s made it a little bit easier for me, too.”

But Inouye-Perez said even during her injury, Ramirez was the one calling pitches from the dugout.

“There’s nothing like a pitcher-catcher dynamic,” Inouye-Perez said. “Seeing where the batters are, seeing the adjustments, knowing the umpire strike zone, seeing how the pitcher is doing. That catching view is the view.”

In addition to Ramirez’s leadership of the Bruins’ defensive battery, she has significantly impacted their offensive arsenal in critical moments.

In UCLA’s series against Northwestern, Ramirez recorded her first career two-homer game – garnering a career-high six RBIs on the day – and later she returned as catcher in game three of the series.

In the Los Angeles regional final, Ramirez had a five-RBI day on three hits, helping UCLA advance to the next round of the NCAA tournament.

In game three of the Columbia super regional, the Bruins’ fifth and final score of the game came off Ramirez’s bat, sealing her team’s trip to Oklahoma City.

The Whittier, California, local recorded her fifth home run of the season in the Bruins’ first game of the Women’s College World Series to put UCLA up 2-1 over Oregon in the fourth inning.

Ramirez hit a second home run at the WCWS – both homers off rise balls from NFCA All-American pitchers – in the Bruins’ final game of the season. And later in that game, she helped UCLA stay alive in the top of the seventh inning, when she pulled junior utility Megan Grant back to home plate after she failed to touch it initially for the then-tying run.

“I don’t get those opportunities without my teammates, so credit to them for being on base and passing the bat,” Ramirez said. “But just to have those moments, run into them – I’m more excited to get back to home plate and get back to them and see their smiles and getting to hug them. I think that’s the best part of it all.”