There’s a lot of tradition associated with the UCLA Bruins softball program. This is a team that has a pretty proud program with plenty of victories, a ton of trips into the NCAA softball tournament, and more than a handful of appearances at the Women’s College World Series.
I mean, we’re talking about a program that has won the NCAA Softball Tournament on 13 different occasions, has been a Women’s College World Series runner up seven different times, and has made it to the Women’s College World Series a grand total of 34 times.
The UCLA softball program has, historically, operated in a very different world from the Texas Tech softball team, which is making its first ever run through the Women’s College World Series this season. UCLA is a college softball blue blood. The Red Raiders are a bit of an underdog and an upstart. And I think that’s a good thing to acknowledge and understand.
But how did the Bruins get to this point in the season in this particular season? How did UCLA navigate through the move into the Big Ten from the Pac-12 and still come out as one of the most impressive teams in the country?
2025 Women’s College World Series team profile: How did the UCLA Bruins make it to Oklahoma City?
Given the pedigree that UCLA comes from, it’s not that big of a surprise to see that winning would carry over from the Pac-12 and into the Big Ten, even with the Big Ten having some truly great and impressive softball programs.
UCLA managed to go out and get more than 50 wins this season, went 17-5 against Big Ten teams, and happened to be a combined 33-9 in games that were either on the road or at neutral site locations. That’s really impressive.
The Bruins got started by winning their first nine games in a row, dropped a contest against Virginia, won five more in a row, and then just kind of cruised through February and March with a solid record of success throughout.
April was pretty good to UCLA, even though the Bruins did drop a series against the Oregon Ducks, and May featured the Bruins getting a couple wins in the Big Ten tournament. The Bruins swept through their NCAA Regional, took two of three from South Carolina in the Super Regional, and made it to Oklahoma City in the process.