No. 8 seed UCLA softball (53-9, 20-4 Big Ten) split its first two contests at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, including a trouncing of No. 5 seed Arkansas in an elimination game Friday night to keep its season alive. Daily Bruin Sports senior staff writer Felicia Keller shares her five main takeaways from the Bruins’ WCWS slate thus far.

Experience matters

Being a newbie can be costly on NCAA softball’s biggest stage.

Debutantes have only won the whole thing three times. The first two won the first two years of the tournament – including UCLA, which won the inaugural WCWS. Oklahoma is the only other team to do it, in 2000.

Arkansas and Mississippi State both made their WCWS debuts this year. And they each fell prey to the debutante curse, as the first two teams eliminated.

All but eight teams averaged below a 2,000-person attendance mark in 2025. UCLA’s Easton Stadium’s capacity is about 1,300.

Devon Park, with a 13,000-person capacity, is a sixfold difference in size for most programs. It’s an intimidating crowd to contend with.

Experience is helpful for individual players too.

UCLA softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said redshirt freshman infielder Aleena Garcia’s experience last season in the dugout – while she was sidelined with a season-ending injury – allowed her to kick things off for the Bruins with a home run in their 11-0 win-or-go-home contest against No. 5 seed Arkansas on Friday night.

“It’s tough getting out here in front of a big crowd and being on a big stage, and you’ve been waiting for it your whole life. I have a lot of young Bruins that are experiencing it for the first time,” Inouye-Perez said. “ It’s awesome to see a redshirt freshman that got to be in the dugout and watch and feel it last year to be able to be that fire starter.”

UCLA hitting has arrived in OKC

UCLA and Oklahoma matched each other in the home run race for much of this season. Both teams broke the previous NCAA home run single season record, which Oklahoma set in 2021 with 161 home runs.

But after Oklahoma was eliminated from its conference tournament early, and then failed to reach the WCWS with a super regional loss, UCLA will end the season with the home-run crown.

The Bruins’ current tally sits at 206, with six home runs at the WCWS alone.

The individual home run race was the center of attention as well, where senior utility Megan Grant will finish the season with the record – currently at 42 homers – ahead of Oklahoma’s Kendall Wells, who finished the season with 39.

Oklahoma fans, evidently taking offense to their team not being on top, lashed out at UCLA, claiming a number of the Westwood squad’s home runs would not have counted in any ballpark besides Easton Stadium.

But the Bruins have now hit an indisputable six home runs at Devon Park – the most of any WCWS team – and with at least one more game, that number is likely to grow.

And four home runs in a single game? The last time UCLA did that at the WCWS was against Oklahoma in 2019, when the Bruins won the national championship.

Megan Grant

Megan Grant is the NCAA single-season home run record holder with 42 home runs this season. And she is also the newly-crowned UCLA career home run record holder with 91 across her four-year stint in Westwood.

But she will still always be remembered for missing home plate after tying an elimination game against Tennessee in the seventh inning at last year’s WCWS.

“I’m kind of a train wreck when I hit a home run for some reason, especially at the World Series, especially last year. Shout out Appendix G,” Grant said.

A near 15-minute review ensued, where the umpires ultimately determined that while Grant definitely did not touch the plate, the call was not reviewable – because of the video review protocol outlined in Appendix G of the NCAA Softball Rulebook – and the home run stood.

So at this year’s WCWS, Grant’s teammates all point right at home plate as Grant rounds third base, and they do not let up until she for sure scores the run.

And she’s grateful for it.

“I black out a little bit, and I’m really glad that my teammates are able to guide me to the direction that I need to step on,” Grant said. “No more stomps at home plate. After last year – that will never happen again, the longest 15 minutes of my life. I did that to myself, but I’m truly grateful for them.”

So far, Grant has successfully touched home plate following her two home runs at the 2026 WCWS.

The Women’s College World Series crowd

The local crowd loves this sport, no matter who is playing.

And when I say local, I don’t just mean from Oklahoma.

I’ve met fans that make the trek every year from Kansas, Texas, Nebraska and every surrounding state.

They cheer for good softball, rather than for a specific team, and they have traditions, like the season-ticket holders who wear shirts advertising the ledge by their seats that often results in fans tripping.

And what was the first conversation topic for fans at the Thursday morning session on Day 1 of the WCWS?

How long the drive was – seven hours for many – and whether or not they stopped overnight at a hotel during the journey.

Without Oklahoma in the WCWS for the first time in over a decade, it wasn’t clear if Oklahoma fans would fill the stands. But no matter – the game Thursday set an attendance record with over 12,600 fans in the stands.

Nebraska fans certainly showed out. And there are definitely Oklahoma fans cheering for former-Sooner-turned-Husker, Jordy Frahm.

But UCLA fans have been notably missing from the crowd.

There were a few groups of blue among the seas of orange and red in the Bruins’ first two WCWS contests. The Bruins’ family members and alumni cheered loud and proud right behind the UCLA dugout.

“The fans bring all the energy, and it’s really nice to see that little crowd of blue always with the Bruins,” Grant said.

But when the announcer asked for cheers from each fanbase, the disparity was evident.

Super regional viewership

ESPN’s NCAA super regional coverage achieved the highest viewership numbers on record.

The television network averaged 695,000 viewers, up a whopping 48% from the season before.

This year also featured three of the most-watched regionals of all time, as well as five of the top 10.

None of those games were UCLA’s – unsurprising given UCLA’s sweep of UCF, which wasn’t a national top-16 seed.

But those numbers highlight softball’s growth – if you are not watching it, then what are you doing?

This year’s WCWS features the sport’s top players and teams, and is one of the most wide open fields in years.

It’s incredible sport, and – if you ignore the period during the Texas Tech and Tennessee game where they experienced technical difficulties – the ESPN broadcast is putting out a great product to connect fans with every team at the WCWS.

Tune in.