LOS ANGELES — With a chance to send fans home early Sunday, and save relievers’ arms for the postseason, Jordan Woolery came through. She stayed back on a pitch that Oregon’s Lyndsey Grein threw on the inside of the zone, swinging through it and lifting it the opposite way, over the right-field fence.
Woolery’s home run, a two-run shot, increased the UCLA softball team’s lead to 11-3 in the bottom of fourth inning, setting up a run-rule victory against the Ducks.
“It was surreal,” Woolery said postgame of her home run.
Bruins coach Kelly Inouye-Perez described the moment as “magical.” It was certainly a fitting way to end Senior Night at Easton Stadium, and close out a regular season that’s been defined by UCLA’s historical power.
For 27 years, Stacy Nuveman’s epic 1999 season, with 31 home runs, 91 runs batted in and 187 total bases, held unreachable standards for Bruins batters.
Woolery has broken the total bases mark with 196 and the RBI record with 106, 33 of which have come on home runs. Megan Grant has reset the program’s home run record with 35 blasts. It doesn’t stop there for the Bruins as eight players have totaled double-digit home runs, and Sofia Mujica has eight home runs in 26 games.
Woolery’s game-ending home run Sunday brought UCLA’s total to 173 this season, a tie with Oklahoma, which has played three more games. For context, the most homers the Bruins had hit in a season was 108 in 2010.
The impressive power is a result of improved plate discipline throughout the roster. With each hitter adopting this approach, the Bruins mashed their way to a 45-7 season, finishing tied for second place in the Big Ten with Oregon after Sunday’s victory. To keep the momentum going into the conference tournament – where the third-seeded Bruins will face the winner of No. 6 Northwestern and No. 11 Penn State on Thursday – UCLA must remain focused, primarily at the plate.
Last season, Woolery and Grant were UCLA’s only players to hit more than 10 home runs as the Bruins accumulated 101. It’s a respectable number, but minimal in comparison to the Bruins’ achievement this season.
The Bruins’ course started in the offseason. Coaches emphasized plate discipline, presenting players with film of their at-bats, identifying the pitches they should look and wait for.
The players listened, developing a patience for their pitch, trusting the batter behind them, rather than being the hero and swinging at pitches outside of the zone.
“Discipline is the biggest part,” Inouye-Perez said. “If you give yourself a simple saying, ‘You swing at strikes,’ you give yourself a better chance at being able to put a good cut on the ball. So that plate discipline has really allowed them to put the barrel on the ball.”
UCLA isn’t going out of its way, Inouye-Perez said, to manufacture home runs, rather pairing quality swings with a selective approach.
In the past, the Bruins’ greatest power hitters had paired that force with a high strikeout rate. Over the past two seasons, Woolery dropped from striking out on 8% of at-bats to 7%. Mujica went from 30% in 2025 to 20% this season, and Kaniya Bragg decreased her rate from 12% to 11%.
“If you look at my stats, you can see the improvement,” Woolery said. “Swinging at good pitches gets better results.”
“I feel like sometimes you get caught up in ego hitting,” Woolery added. “We can always get a better pitch to drive for maybe a double or a home run.”
She and Grant have led this charge of increased patience, and the senior sluggers’ example has resonated throughout the roster. That was on display in Sunday’s fourth inning, when Grant worked a walk, putting a runner on base for Woolery to drive in with that home run and enforce the run-rule win.
“She could definitely go for some pitches and try to extend it, but she’s disciplined, and she’s taking the walks that lead to the two-run home for Jordan, instead of an out, and then a solo home run,” Inouye-Perez said.
Leadoff hitter Rylee Slimp has especially followed the lead of the seniors and heeded coaches’ words to stay disciplined. It resulted in an increase from two home runs in 2025 to 13 this season.
Woolery felt Sunday’s 11-run performance was a “step in the right direction” for UCLA’s offense to gain momentum before the Big Ten Tournament run and Women’s College World Series. For the offense to remain hot, Grant said, UCLA must “rely on each other” and maintain that collective patience.
“As a team, we are contagious,” she said. “Keep doing those little things, because at the end, it’s gonna matter.”