The UCLA Bruins softball team represents the University of California, Los Angeles in NCAA Division I softball. The Bruins are among the most decorated programs in NCAA softball, leading all schools in NCAA championships with 12, 13 overall Women's College World Series championships,[2] championship game appearances with 22,[2] WCWS appearances with 36,[2] and NCAA Tournament wins with 187.[3]
| UCLA Bruins softball | |
|---|---|
 2024 UCLA Bruins softball team | |
 | |
| Founded | 1975 |
| University | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Head coach | Kelly Inouye-Perez (17th season) |
| Conference | Big Ten |
| Location | Los Angeles, California |
| Home stadium | Easton Stadium (Capacity: 1,328) |
| Nickname | Bruins |
| Colors | Blue and gold[1] |
| NCAA Tournament champions | |
| 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995*, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2019 | |
| AIAW Tournament champions | |
| 1978[2] | |
| NCAA WCWS runner-up | |
| 1987, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005 | |
| NCAA WCWS appearances | |
| 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995*, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024 | |
| AIAW WCWS appearances | |
| 1978, 1979 (runner-up), 1981[2] | |
| NCAA Super Regional appearances | |
| 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024 | |
| NCAA Tournament appearances | |
| 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995*, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 | |
| Conference Tournament championships | |
| Pac-12: 2024 | |
| Regular Season Conference championships | |
| SCWIAC: 1975, 1976 WCAA: 1983, 1984 Pac-10/12: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024 *vacated by NCAA | |
History
editSharron Backus era
editJudith Holland, UCLA senior associate athletic director, hired Sharon Backus as a part-time coach upon the program's founding in 1975. Holland recalled, "I had seen her play, and she was probably one of the best shortstops who ever played the game."[4] Backus was a physical education teacher at a high school in Anaheim, California when she was hired by UCLA and kept her teaching job for the first couple years after being hired at UCLA. Backus taught in Anaheim in the mornings and drove to UCLA for practice and games in the afternoon.[4] Holland recalled that UCLA paid Backus about $1,500 year as a part-time coach, "and I don't think the money even paid for her gas."[4]
In Backus's first three years at UCLA, the team struggled. Between 1975 and 1977, UCLA compiled a record of 44–20. In the formative years of the program, the Bruins played at city parks, where they were "often bumped from fields by recreational softball leagues."[5] Backus moved her team to the UCLA intramural field, but it was not until 1980 that her team got its own field.[5] Sunset Field and was constructed in 1979 and it was the home of the Bruins through 1993.
In 1978, the Bruins won their first AIAW national softball championship with a 31–3 record. After women's softball became an NCAA sport in 1982, Backus's teams won six of the first nine NCAA softball tournaments.[5] In all, Backus led UCLA to eight NCAA tournament championships (in addition to the 1978 pre-NCAA championship) in 1982 (33–7–2), 1984 (45–6–1), 1985 (41–9), 1988 (53–8), 1989 (48–4), 1990 (62–7), 1992 (54–2), and 1995 (50–6).[6]
From 1988 to 1990, the Bruins won three consecutive NCAA championships and compiled a record of 163–19. Backus's success led the Los Angeles Times in 1990 to compare Backus to UCLA's legendary basketball coach John Wooden:
"When you talk about UCLA dynasties, you start with John Wooden, who coached the men's basketball team to 10 NCAA titles. But Backus has built a dynasty of her own. ... In total, the Bruins have won seven national titles, finished second twice and third twice in Backus' 15 seasons."[5]
Commenting on the pressure and anxiety fostered by success, Backus noted, "John Wooden once said that he wished one national championship to his best friends, but four to his enemies."[7]
Infractions
editIn December 1995, the UCLA women's softball program was placed on probation after an investigation revealed that UCLA had awarded more scholarships than were permitted under NCAA rules. Amid an NCAA probe prompted by a Los Angeles Times investigation into UCLA pitcher Tanya Harding, Backus announced her retirement in January 1997 after 21 years as the team's head coach.[8] Backus compiled a record of 847 wins, 167 losses and 3 ties at UCLA.[8][9] At the time of her retirement, she was "the winningest college softball coach" in the history of the sport.[8][10] Backus told the press when she retired, "I've had a great career at UCLA, but it's time for a change. My primary reason for stepping down has to do with the illness and death of my mother in early October. That, plus the ongoing NCAA probe of the softball program have created a level of stress that I feel is best to put behind me at this time."[9]
Sue Enquist era
editIn 1989, Sue Enquist was appointed co-head coach with Backus, a position they shared through the 1996 season. Enquist played softball at UCLA under Sharron Backus from 1975 to 1978. She helped lead UCLA to its first national softball championship in 1978 and became UCLA's first All-American softball player.[11] Her career batting average of .401 was the UCLA team record for 24 years. Prior to becoming co-head coach, she was an assistant coach under Backus from 1980 to 1988.
Following Backus's retirement, Enquist became the sole head coach at UCLA in 1997, a position she held for ten years from 1997 to 2006.[12] Enquist retired from UCLA in 2006.[13][14] In 18 years as the co-head coach and sole head coach at UCLA, Enquist compiled a record of 887–175–1.[15] Her career winning percentage of .835 is the highest recorded by any of the college softball coaches with 800 career wins.[16] During her years as a player and coach at UCLA, the Bruins softball team won 11 national championships in 1978, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2003 and 2004.[12]
Kelly Inouye-Perez era
editThe UCLA Bruins are currently under the coaching of Kelly Inouye-Perez, who started in 2007. A former UCLA catcher, she played under Coach Sue Enquist. She was named First-Team All PAC-10 her freshmen year and Second Team All-PAC-10 her sophomore season. She helped lead the Bruins to the 1989 and 1990 National championship before getting shoulder surgery in 1991. She came back the following year and got 2nd team All-PAC-10 honor and won the national championship with a 54-2 record on the season.
Perez was the assistant coach for the Bruins from 1994 to 2006. As her time as assistant coach, she helped accumulate a 617-150-1 overall record, 3 PAC-10 championships, 7 championship game appearances, 3 national championships, and named the National Coaching Staff of the Year award. She guided recognizable pitchers and catchers in the game like Stacey Nuveman who became a 3 time PAC-10 Player of the Year, 4 time 1st team All-American, and NCAA's all time single season and career home run leader.
She became only the third coach in UCLA softball history on January 1, 2007. So far in her time as UCLA head coach, she accumulated 32 NFCA All-American awards, 67 All-Region honors, and 89 All Pacific-10/Pac-12 awards from her players. She brought two national championship back to the university in 2010 and 2019. She accomplished her 600th win of her career when she beat the Oklahoma Sooners in the national championship game in 2019. [17]
| Name | Position coached | Consecutive season at UCLA in current position | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kelly Inouye-Perez | Head coach | 17th | |
| Lisa Fernandez | Associate head coach | 1st | |
| Kirk Walker | Associate head coach | 1st | |
| Will Oldham | Volunteer assistant coach | 1st | |
| Claire Donyanavard | Director of Softball Operations | 5th | |
| Kaitlyn Gustafson | Assistant athletic trainer | ||
| Adam Garner | Director of Athletic Performance | ||
| Reference:[18] | |||
Head coaches
edit| Name | Years | Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharron Backus | 1975–1988 | 451 | 117 | 3 | .794 |
| Sharron Backus & Sue Enquist | 1989–1996 | 403 | 56 | 0 | .878 |
| Sue Enquist | 1997–2007 | 484 | 119 | 1 | .803 |
| Kelly Inouye-Perez | 2007–present | 544 | 166 | 1 | .766 |
Year-by-year results
edit| Season | Coach | Record | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Conference | |||
| Southern California Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | ||||
| 1975 | Sharron Backus | 14–6 | 9–0 | SCWIAC Champions |
| 1976 | 13–4 | 9–1 | SCWIAC Champions | |
| Independent | ||||
| 1977 | Sharron Backus | 17–10 | — | |
| 1978 | 31–13 | — | AIAW National Champions | |
| 1979 | 24–9 | — | AIAW College World Series (Runner-up) | |
| Western Collegiate Athletic Association | ||||
| 1980 | Sharron Backus | 24–13 | 11–5 | |
| 1981 | 38–10 | 10–5 | AIAW College World Series (3rd place) | |
| 1982 | 33–7–2 | 15–4–1 | NCAA Champions | |
| 1983 | 40–7 | 17–3 | Women's College World Series (3rd Place) | |
| 1984 | 45–6–1 | 7–3 | NCAA Champions | |
| 1985 | 41–9 | 9–3 | NCAA Champions | |
| 1986 | 28–15 | 10–2 | ||
| 1987 | Sharron Backus | 50–10 | 7–3 | Women's College World Series (Runner-up) |
| 1988 | 53–8 | 15–3 | NCAA Champions | |
| 1989 | Backus/Enquist | 48–4 | 18–2 | NCAA Champions |
| 1990 | 62–7 | 16–2 | NCAA Champions | |
| 1991 | 56–7 | 16–4 | Women's College World Series (Runner-up) | |
| 1992 | 54–2 | 14–2 | NCAA Champions | |
| 1993 | 50–5 | 25–1 | Women's College World Series (Runner-up) | |
| 1994 | 43–14 | 16–6 | Women's College World Series (Runner-up) | |
| 1995 | 43–6 | 23–4 | NCAA Champions (vacated by NCAA) | |
| 1996 | 47–11 | 20–7 | Women's College World Series (3rd Place) | |
| 1997 | Sue Enquist | 49–14 | 21–7 | Women's College World Series (Runner-up) |
| 1998 | 18–27 | 8–18 | ||
| 1999 | 63–6 | 22–6 | NCAA Champions | |
| 2000 | 46–12–1 | 14–7 | Women's College World Series (Runner-up) | |
| 2001 | 62–6 | 16–5 | Women's College World Series (Runner-up) | |
| 2002 | 55–9 | 18–3 | Women's College World Series (5th Place) | |
| 2003 | 54–7 | 17–4 | NCAA Champions | |
| 2004 | 47–9 | 12–8 | NCAA Champions | |
| 2005 | 40–20 | 11–10 | Women's College World Series (Runner-up) | |
| 2006 | 50–9 | 15–5 | Women's College World Series (4th Place) | |
| 2007 | Kelly Inouye-Perez | 37–18 | 12–9 | NCAA Regional |
| 2008 | 51–9 | 17–4 | Women's College World Series (5th Place) | |
| 2009 | 45–11 | 16–5 | NCAA Super Regional | |
| 2010 | 50–11 | 14–7 | NCAA Champions | |
| 2011 | 36–19 | 9–12 | NCAA Regional | |
| 2012 | Kelly Inouye-Perez | 36–20 | 12–12 | NCAA Regional |
| 2013 | 40–20 | 10–4 | NCAA Regional | |
| 2014 | 52–8 | 19–5 | NCAA Super Regional | |
| 2015 | 51–12 | 19–5 | Women's College World Series (5th Place) | |
| 2016 | 40–16–1 | 16–5–1 | Women's College World Series (8th Place) | |
| 2017 | 48–15 | 16–8 | Women's College World Series (6th Place) | |
| 2018 | 55–5 | 20–4 | Women's College World Series (3rd Place) | |
| 2019 | 56–6 | 20–4 | NCAA Champions | |
| 2020 | 25–1 | 0–0 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |
| 2021 | 47–7 | 19–2 | Women's College World Series (5th Place) | |
| 2022 | 51–10 | 19–5 | Women's College World Series (4th Place) | |
| 2023 | 52–7 | 21–3 | NCAA Regional | |
| 2024 | 43–12 | 17–4 | Women's College World Series (5th Place) | |
NCAA Tournament seeding history
editNational seeding began in 2005. The UCLA Bruins have been a national seed 16 of the 18 tournaments.
| Years → | '05 | '06 | '07 | '08 | '09 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '15 | '16 | '17 | '18 | '19 | '21 | '22 | '23 | '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seeds → | 7 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 |
Notable players
editNational awards
edit- Rachel Garcia (2017)
- Rachel Garcia (2018, 2021)
- Rachel Garcia (2019)
- Rachel Garcia (2019)
- Megan Faraimo (2020)
- Maya Brady (2020)
- Rachel Garcia (2018, 2019)
- Stacey Nuveman (1999, 2001, 2002)
Conference awards
edit- Lisa Longaker (1987, 1988, 1990)
- Lisa Fernandez (1991, 1992, 1993)
- Stacey Nuveman (1999, 2001, 2002)
- Natasha Watley (2003)
- Andrea Duran (2006)
- Megan Langenfeld (2010)
- Ally Carda (2014, 2015)
- Rachel Garcia (2018, 2019, 2021)
- Maya Brady (2023, 2024)
- Courtney Dale (1999)
- Keira Goerl (2003)
- Rachel Garcia (2019)
- Megan Faraimo (2022, 2023)
- Briana Perez (2022)
- Tanya Harding (1995)
- Julie Adams (1996)
- Stacey Nuveman (1997)
- Anjelica Selden (2005)
- Stephany LaRosa (2012)
- Rachel Garcia (2017)
- Aaliyah Jordan (2018)
- Megan Faraimo (2019)
- Kaitlyn Terry (2024)
- Sharron Backus (1990, 1992, 1993, 1995)
- Sue Enquist (1995, 1999, 2006)
- Kelly Inouye-Perez (2009, 2021, 2023, 2024)
References
edit- ^ "Style Guide // UCLA Athletics for Print and Digital Applications" (PDF). UCLA Nike Jordan Style Guide. July 7, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Plummer, William; Floyd, Larry C. (2013). A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States: Turnkey Communications Inc. ISBN 978-0-9893007-0-4.
- ^ "2014 Women's College World Series Record Book" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ a b c Ray Ripton (1991-02-07). "Bruins Try to Continue Domination in Softball Colleges: Three-time defending NCAA champions have plenty of pitching and hitting talent". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b c d Chris Baker (1990-06-12). "Another UCLA Dynasty Takes Shape Softball: Bruins have won three NCAA titles in a row and six of nine overall under Coach Sharron Backus". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Division I Softball Champions". NCAA. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
- ^ Ray Ripton (1989-06-04). "Keeping a Dynasty Going Isn't All Fun, UCLA Softball Coach Learns". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b c "UCLA Softball Coach Backus Resigns During Investigation". Los Angeles Times. 1997-01-07.
- ^ a b "BACKUS STEPS DOWN AS BRUINS COACH". Daily News (Los Angeles). 1997-01-07.
- ^ Judi Garman passed Backus as the sport's winningest coach in 1998.
- ^ "UCLA Women Win Series". Schenectady Gazette. May 29, 1978.
- ^ a b "Sue Enquist Profile". UCLA. Archived from the original on 2012-12-09.
- ^ "Acclaimed UCLA softball coach Enquist to retire". ESPN.com. September 26, 2006.
- ^ Ben Bolch (September 27, 2006). "Veteran UCLA Softball Coach Enquist to Retire". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012.
- ^ "NCAA Career Statistics". NCAA. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
- ^ "NCAA Softball Coaching Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2011.
- ^ "Kelly Inouye-Perez - Softball Coach". UCLA. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
- ^ "UCLA Bruins Softball Coaches". UCLABruins.com. UCLA Athletics. Retrieved 4 February 2019.