That limp continued Friday in the second-seeded Bruins’ Los Angeles Regional opener, falling to Grand Canyon 3-2

They had a chance to get back on the front foot Saturday, but instead the 12-time national champions had a once-promising season end with an equally stunning 2-1 loss to Liberty at Easton Stadium.

UCLA (52-7) got off to a great start, getting a leadoff blast from freshman Megan Grant in the bottom of first inning off Liberty pitcher Karlie Keeney. It was Grant’s third leadoff homer of the season and 15th overall.

The Bruins missed a chance to open lead in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Kennedy Powell and Janelle Meoño hit back-to-back singles and Grant drew a walk to load the bases. But Keeney got Maya Brady to ground out to first base to end the threat.

UCLA put a few other runners aboard but couldn’t push anything across the rest of the way.

UCLA starter Brooke Yanez was in control early, but the Flames (39-21) evened the score in the top of the fourth inning. Rachel Roupe swung at the first-pitch offering and homered to left-center field.

Yanez, the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, responded well. After getting out of the fourth, she struck out the side in the fifth and cruised into the seventh. She finished with nine strikeouts.

Yanez’s good fortune — as well as UCLA’s — ended in the seventh.

Roupe led off with a walk and advanced to second base on a contested sacrifice bunt by Rachel Craine. Craine was originally called safe at first but the Bruins challenged the play and the call was reversed.

Yanez struck out Megan Fortner, but pinch-hitter KC Machado followed with a single through the left side of the infield, allowing Roupe to score the go-ahead run on a close play at the plate. After a review by the umpire, the call was upheld — Roupe sliding under the late tag of catcher Alyssa Garcia.

Megan Faraimo took over in the circle and got out of the inning without further damage, giving UCLA one last shot in the bottom of the seventh.

However, the Bruins went 1-2-3, and were eliminated from the NCAA tournament.

She singled and delivered on her promise to teammate Megan Grant of one last at-bat. But the hope quickly diminished as Grand Canyon beat No. 2 overall seed UCLA, 3-2, on Friday night to hand the 12-time national champions a loss in the opener of the NCAA Los Angeles Regional for the first time since 2019.

“You stop and take a look and you realize in the postseason that you can’t take a pitch off,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “You’ve gotta be able to get out there and do what you came to do and tonight wasn’t our night.”

UCLA (52-6) will resume play in the four-team, double-elimination regional on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against the loser of Friday night’s game between Liberty and San Diego State. The Bruins now need to win four games this weekend to advance to a best-of-three super regional series.

Grant was 2 for 4 for the Bruins with a home run and two RBIs and Aaliyah Jordan went 2 for 3. Megan Faraimo pitched 3-1/3 innings, giving up two hits and recording six strikeouts. Brooke Yanez pitched two innings in relief and gave up no hits with two strikeouts.

Grand Canyon (47-11) scored all of its runs on a fourth-inning home run. UCLA’s Savannah Pola looked as though she was about to make a routine catch for an out, but the ball teetered off the edge of her glove and allowed Katelyn Dunckel to end up on second base with a double. Ramsay Lopez was walked, then Madison Schaefer ripped a ball off the left field foul pole for a 3-1 lead.

The Bruins hammered the Antelopes, 12-1, in the regional opener last year, but the Antelopes broke through for the first postseason win in program history this time.

“When we saw our seed and that we were coming to UCLA, that took some mental toughness because they drilled us last year,” GCU coach Shanon Hays said. “If you show weakness, they’re gonna get you. And so I was very proud about how our girls stood up and played well.”

UCLA took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when leadoff hitter Grant singled to drive in Lauren Hatch, who was pinch-running for catcher Alyssa Garcia.

After GCU’s go-ahead home run, Lauren Shaw came in to relieve Megan Faraimo in the circle and the Bruins forced a ground out and line out to get out of the inning.

Grant ripped a shot over the center field wall for her 14th home run of the season in the fifth inning to cut GCU’s advantage to 3-2. Yanez came in to pitch for UCLA in the sixth inning and held the Lopes scoreless for the frame.

“She’s a fierce hitter, she likes big moments. She proved it tonight,” Inouye-Perez said of Grant. “She sets a great tone. Whether she gets a hit or not, she’s competing and she’s gonna swing it and I think that brings confidence to the rest of the lineup.”

Meoño’s two-out single in the seventh kept the Bruins’ hopes alive, but Grant popped up to short right field to end it.

“I just knew that I was gonna win the game by myself,” Meoño said. “I literally told Megan when she passed me the bat after a foul ball, I said I want to give you an at-bat so bad. I just knew I wanted to get on.”

When the Bruins lost their regional opener in 2019, they went on to win a national championship. Meoño’s late-game single wasn’t the only glimmer of hope in the double-elimination weekend, at least that’s how Inouye-Perez thinks.

“You have a choice. You can play three games, which is the quickest path, and be undefeated or you can play up to five,” she said. “We’re in a position now where five is the name of the game and we’re gonna get a lot of at-bats and I think that can be a good thing. The more we swing it, the more we have great opportunities.”

UCLA’s loss was part of an 0-for-4 day for teams from the region.

Cal State Fullerton lost to Auburn, 12-2, in its opener at the Clemson Regional, Loyola Marymount lost to Florida, 3-2, at the Stanford Regional and will face Big West Conference champion Long Beach State in an elimination game on Saturday. LBSU lost to Stanford, 1-0, in its opener.

For more on those three games, click here.

It was all part of senior practice – the one practice out of the year that the most veteran Bruins get to break all the rules. It’s a UCLA tradition and provides some levity just before the four-team NCAA Los Angeles Regional gets underway Friday.

“It’s our last postseason practice we have here that is guaranteed,” Bruins graduate student Aaliyah Jordan said. “So it just makes us think about our journey here and not so much like, we have to do this and we have to do this.”

No. 2-seeded UCLA (52-5) plays Grand Canyon University (46-11) on Friday at 5 p.m. Liberty and San Diego State will play in Friday’s 8 p.m. game. The winner of each of those games will play Saturday at 2 p.m. and two games will be played if necessary on Sunday to determine which team advances from the double-elimination event to the best-of-three super regional round.

The Bruins are making their 38th NCAA tournament appearance while coming off a loss to Utah in the title game of the inaugural Pac-12 tournament. The Utes put up three runs in the sixth inning for the win.

“I like how we responded after that day,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “We came to practice on Monday and it was very dialed in. It was a productive practice. That’s what we need right now, is just to really fine-tuned focus on being able to execute the little things.”

Earlier in the single-elimination Pac-12 tournament, Bruins pitcher Brooke Yanez improved to 16-1 in the circle against Stanford, throwing a complete-game shutout in which she gave up only two hits.

With Yanez, a sixth-year transfer from Oregon, Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Megan Faraimo (29-2) and freshman Taylor Tinsley (6-1), the Bruins have proven talent and depth.

“We’re all locked in together, just talking every inning,” Yanez said. “And I think that is the huge difference-maker between a staff. You can either constantly compete day by day, practice (by) practice, game by game, but at the end of the day, we’re on the same team.”

Since the tournament, redshirt junior Maya Brady has been named a USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 3 finalist, along with Clemson’s Valerie Cagle and Florida’s Skylar Wallace.

Brady, who bats in the No. 2 spot after freshman Megan Grant, was named the Pac-12 batting champion with a .456 average at the end of conference play. She now owns a .458 average, which ranks sixth in the country, with 59 RBI and 18 home runs.

The Bruins had 10 players receive All-Pac-12 honors, including Freshman of the Year Jordan Woolery and first-teamers Brady, Faraimo and Grant. Four players were named to the All-Freshman Team, but the Bruins are also leaning on experience from veterans like Jordan, who is in her seventh and final postseason with UCLA.

Jordan’s photo is permanently pasted to the outfield wall at Easton Stadium as part of the 2019 NCAA championship-winning team. She hit her second walk-off home run of the season in her final regular-season game at the park against San Diego State and currently ranks No. 15 in program history in career hits with 256.

She posted an Instagram video recently of herself standing in a crowd, smiling, with fans rushing around for player autographs with the caption: “When you’re too old and no one wants our autograph.” Still, she knows the value of her behavior modeling.

“It’s kind of like passing the torch,” Jordan said with a laugh. “It’s tough as a freshman regardless, just because it’s your first postseason, if you make to the World Series and there’s all these crowds. Just act like you’ve been there before. It’s still the same game. 60 feet, turn left.”

NCAA Los Angeles Regional: UCLA vs. Grand Canyon

When: 5 p.m. Friday

Where: Easton Stadium, Westwood

TV: ESPN+

Assembly Bill 252, also known as the College Athlete Protection Act, aims to create a revenue-sharing arrangement between the schools and athletes in the major sports.

The bill’s author is assembly member Chris Holden, who represents District 41 (Pasadena) and is a former San Diego State basketball player.

To craft AB 252, Holden worked closely with National College Players Association, the athlete-advocacy group that helped push forward the “Fair Pay To Play Act” — better known as name, image and likeness (NIL) — and is supported by the United Steelworkers.

But there is a significant difference in the pieces of legislation. While NIL allowed athletes to receive compensation from the private sector for endorsement and promotional endeavors, AB 252 funnels revenue currently used for athletic department operations into the pockets of the athletes in sports that meet certain financial thresholds — namely, football and basketball.

How much cash would go straight to the players? Depending on the revenue generated by the specific team, each athlete could receive $25,000 annually and have more than $100,000 waiting for them upon graduation.

If AB 252 becomes law in California, the impact likely would ripple through the Pac-12 footprint and, as was the case with NIL, spark massive change across the college sports landscape.

And it could have serious ramifications for Title IX, the 51-year-old civil rights law designed to prevent gender-based discrimination.

The bill has a difficult but not treacherous road ahead:

— It passed the assembly’s higher education committee in April by an 8-3 vote and has moved to appropriations.

— In order to reach the assembly floor during this legislative cycle, AB 252 must pass appropriations by May 19. That seems likely. Holden, the sponsor, is chair of the appropriations committee.

— At that point, AB 252 would need to pass the full assembly by June 2 in order to advance to the senate this year.

“At some point we have to recognize that what’s demanded of these athletes far exceeds what the average student is expected to contribute,” Holden said last month, after AB 252 passed the higher education committee.

“We owe it to these young people to put protections in place that match the unique position they are in and set them up for success post schooling.”

However, AB 252 could have massive consequences for Olympic sports.

The operating revenue targeted by AB 252 is currently used to fund recruiting budgets and coaches salaries for football and men’s basketball. But it also supports dozens of teams — from tennis and softball to swimming to field hockey — that don’t turn a profit.

The bill is opposed by the University of California (UCLA, Cal, etc.) and the California State University (San Jose State, Fresno State, San Diego State, etc.), which believe AB 252 would result in the elimination of non-revenue sports, in addition to any Title IX ramifications.

According to an analysis published by the appropriations committee, the UC estimated the potential impact could reach “tens of millions of dollars annually.”

The appropriations committee has scheduled a hearing on AB 252 for Thursday.

*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716

*** Follow me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline

*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.

Chaffey won just two of its 20 games over the past two seasons. The Panthers did not play in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic but won 20 of 21 games in the two years prior.

Chiaverini has a level of familiarity with the Inland area, having spent time there as a player and coach.

The Corona High alumnus was an All-CIF and All-State receiver and was inducted into the high school’s Hall of Fame in 2010.

He also worked at Riverside City College as an associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, under Coach Tom Craft, from 2010 to 2015. The team sent 42 players to Division I programs during Chiaverini’s tenure.

Chiaverini spent the 2022 season under Bruins coach Chip Kelly, following a six-year stint at Colorado, his alma mater.

He worked in several roles for the Buffaloes including assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator under three different head coaches. He has also coached at Mt. San Antonio College and Texas Tech.

As a player, Chiaverini had 97 catches for 1,199 yards and six touchdowns during his four seasons at Colorado.

He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 1999 NFL Draft and set the team’s rookie receiving record with 44 catches for 487 yards and four touchdowns. He played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons.

On Sunday, the Bruins received the No. 2 overall seed for the 64-team NCAA tournament and the right to host one of 16 four-team regionals.

UCLA is making its NCAA tournament-record 38th appearance and will host a regional for the ninth consecutive season.

The Bruins (52-5) will be joined in the Los Angeles regional by San Diego State, Liberty and Grand Canyon. The three-day regional stage is double-elimination, with the winner advancing to a best-of-three super regional series the following week.

UCLA, which is 233-64 in the NCAAs since 1982, will open against Grand Canyon on Friday at 5 p.m.

Big West Conference champion Long Beach State and runner-up Cal State Fullerton are also in the field.

Long Beach (31-21), which swept a three-game series against Fullerton on Friday and Saturday to win the title, is the fourth seed in the Stanford Regional, where it will join Stanford, Loyola Marymount and Florida.

LBSU will take on No. 9 overall seed Stanford in the opener on Friday at 6 p.m.

The Titans (33-19) are the second seed in the Clemson Regional, joining the host Tigers, Auburn and UNC Greensboro. Fullerton gets started Friday against Auburn at 2:30 p.m. PT.

The NCAA tournament culminates with the eight-team Women’s College World Series, which is scheduled for June 1-9 in Oklahoma City.

• 

  UCLA coach Chip Kelly looks on during the first half of the Sun Bowl against Pittsburgh on Friday in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)

• 

  UCLA head coach Mick Cronin calls out a play during the first half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Arena on March 23, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

NEW YORK — A 3-year-old colt co-owned by UCLA coaches Chip Kelly and Mick Cronin finished third in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes on Saturday.

Ridden by Frankie Dettori, Henry Q was beaten by 8¾ lengths in the 1-1/8-mile race, which is a prep for the Belmont Stakes on June 10 in New York. He paid $4.20 to show.

Kelly coaches the Bruins’ football team and Cronin guides the basketball team. They are part of The Del Mar Group’s ownership.

Arcangelo won by a head over Bishops Bay.

Sired by 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame, Henry Q has two wins in six career starts and earnings of $175,140. He won the Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park in New Mexico in February. Doug O’Neill, a two-time Kentucky Derby winner, trains the Southern California-based colt.

Roberts was the play-by-play voice for 10 years at Long Beach State before making the move to UCLA. From 1992 to 2015, Roberts was the Bruins’ play-by-play broadcaster for both sports. He called 16 bowl games for the UCLA football team, including the 1994 and 1999 Rose Bowl games, and 19 trips to the NCAA tournament for the men’s basketball team.

The highlight of his career was arguably the Bruins’ 1995 NCAA tournament championship run, capped by their title-game victory over Arkansas at the Kingdome in Seattle.

The decorated broadcaster, who was a four-time Golden Mike Award winner and a Hall of Fame member in the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association, also co-authored two books with Bill Bennett – “Stadium Stories: UCLA Bruins” and “UCLA Football Vault” – and worked in real estate. He also spent time coaching the Glendora High junior varsity baseball team.

Born as Bob LaPeer in Alhambra, Roberts grew up in Baldwin Park and played football, basketball and baseball at Baldwin Park High before continuing to play baseball at Cal Poly Pomona. He began his broadcasting career at KCIN in Victorville, then at KREO in Indio and KWOW in Pomona, where he announced high school and junior college sports. Other stops included KFXM in San Bernardino – where a program director asked him to change his name because someone else named Bob also worked there – as well as KUTE-FM, KFI-AM, KOST-FM and KMPC-AM.

Roberts is survived by his wife Ann LaPeer, son David LaPeer and daughter-in-law Yvette LaPeer, daughter Nichole Hijon-LaPeer, son-in-law Octavio Hijon and grandchildren Andrés, Santiago and Carmen.

According to a release from UCLA, Roberts’ family “requests that in lieu of flowers, in Chris’ memory, to please remember to provide love, guidance, and mentorship to those around you and in need. He was always proud and fond of the young broadcasters that he had the privilege to coach and mentor.”

Crum, who won two NCAA men’s basketball championships and built the Cardinals into one of the 1980s’ dominant programs during a Hall of Fame coaching career, died Tuesday. He was 86.

The school announced Crum’s death in a release after being informed by his wife, Susan. No cause was given, but Crum had battled an extended illness. He had a mild stroke in August 2017 while fishing in Alaska and another two years ago.

Nicknamed “Cool Hand Luke” because of his cool, unflinching sideline demeanor — legend has it he never uttered a curse word — Crum retired in March 2001 after 30 seasons at Louisville with 675 victories, which ranked 15th all-time then, and championships in 1980 and ’86. A disciple of the legendary Wooden, Crum often wore a red sport coat and waved a rolled-up program and stat sheet like a bandleader’s baton as he directed Louisville to 23 NCAA Tournaments and six Final Fours.

The second half of his tenure was not nearly as successful as the first, however, as Louisville endured two separate NCAA investigations and never returned to the Final Four after Crum’s second championship season. He accepted a $7 million buyout in March 2, 2001 — his 64th birthday — and was replaced by Rick Pitino, an eventual Hall of Famer who guided Louisville to a third NCAA title in 2013 that the governing body later vacated following a sex scandal.

Nonetheless, Crum was inducted into the Hall of Fame in May 1994, with Wooden, his college coach and longtime mentor at his side. Crum had 11 more overall wins and 55 more than his most influential advisor amassed at UCLA.

Crum remained a beloved, revered and respected presence around Louisville whose legacy has been recognized in many ways. He frequently attended Cardinals games played on the KFC Yum! Center home court bearing his name and signature. And Crum was present for the September 2022 dedication of Denny Crum Hall, a new campus dormitory for athletes and students.

“You try to remember all of the things that you did, things that happened,” Crum said at a February 2020 ceremony honoring the 1980 title team. “Some was bad, but most of it good. It just makes you really proud that you were a part of it.”

Crum had a front-row seat in March 2022 for the introduction of one of his former players, Kenny Payne, as Cardinals coach. There were plenty of the Hall of Famer’s other pupils present to not only support Payne, but enjoy another meeting with their mentor and friend on and off the court.

Payne expressed prayers for Crum’s family and called his former coach a true treasure who gave so much to the school and community.

“Today is a sad day for me personally, as well as the basketball world,” Payne said in a statement. “My thoughts go through all the lessons that he taught, not just to me, but every player he ever came in contact with. … Rest in peace, Coach. You touched so many. Well done.”

Former Cardinals great Junior Bridgeman echoed Payne on Crum’s impact on generations of players.

“He said if you are good at what you’re going to do, we’re not going to worry about what the other team is going to do,” said Bridgeman, who played for Crum from 1972-75. “That’s a life lesson that’ll carry you farther and in whatever area you go into.”

A native of San Fernando, Crum starred as a guard at San Fernando High and Pierce College before transferring to UCLA in 1956. The Bruins went 38-14 in Crum’s two seasons as a player.

He briefly served as a graduate assistant to Wooden before coaching Pierce in the mid-1960s.

Wooden hired Crum as his assistant and chief recruiter in 1968, when the Bruins were in the midst of their dynastic run to 10 NCAA championships. Crum is credited with luring Bill Walton to UCLA, and the Bruins went 86-4 and won three NCAA titles during Crum’s three seasons there.

Crum succeeded John Dromo as Louisville’s coach on April 17, 1971, but Wooden figured his former assistant would soon return to succeed him.

“Denny was so good that I knew I wasn’t going to keep him very long,” Wooden told the Courier Journal of Louisville back then. “I was pleased when he got the job at Louisville. I had always hoped when I retired that he’d be the one to succeed me, but he left and proved to be just what I thought he was.”

Louisville had enjoyed little postseason success before Crum’s arrival, reaching the 1956 NIT championship and the 1959 NCAA Final Four. The Cardinals lost Crum’s first game, 70-69 to Florida, before reeling off 15 consecutive victories.

They won the Missouri Valley Conference — the first of 15 regular-season league titles for Crum — then reached the Final Four, where they met Wooden and UCLA. The Bruins won 96-77 on their way to a sixth-straight championship.

The schools met again in the semifinals three seasons later with a similar result as UCLA won 75-74 in overtime. By then Crum employed much of Wooden’s fundamentally focused style, but with pressure defense and a fast-breaking flair. Instead of an offense built around a dominant center, Crum used athletic guards and forwards who could finish plays with the high-flying dunks Wooden eschewed.

His philosophy made the Cardinals perennial NCAA Tournament participants with 20 or more wins each season from 1975-1979. Their breakthrough came in the 1979-80 season, when homegrown star guard Darrell Griffith and the so-called “Doctors of Dunk” marched through the regular season 26-3 and won their second Metro Conference championship in three years.

Crum’s second-seeded Cardinals reached their third Final Four in nine seasons and encountered UCLA again, this time coached by Larry Brown. Louisville finally prevailed with a 59-54 championship-game win in Indianapolis led by Griffith, an All-American and Wooden Award winner known by his popular nickname of “Dr. Dunkenstein.”

“It means more to me probably than the other guys because I’m from Louisville and I’ve seen how we came so close so many times and were never able to get over the hump,” Griffith said in 2020. “And to be able to get over the hump, that means a lot to everybody, but to me in particular, an extra special reason.”

Crum’s second title followed in 1986 with freshman Pervis Ellison, Billy Thompson and Milt Wagner leading the way as Louisville beat Duke 72-69.

Tributes and condolences began pouring in, with U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky saying, “The Cardinal community loved their coach and will miss his calm leadership both on and off the court.”

It’s a constant characteristic season after season, but if that armor were to be pierced as No. 2 UCLA heads into the postseason, the Bruins could carry on because of the depth of this year’s team.

“This feels like UCLA softball,” Inouye-Perez said. “I can’t really remember the last time it’s gotten to be to this much depth or the freshmen have been this impactful.”

The Bruins have rode that depth to a 23-game winning streak heading into the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament, which is slated to begin Wednesday and end Saturday at Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.

UCLA enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed and will have their first game Thursday after a first-round bye. The Bruins will face either No. 8 Arizona or No. 9 Arizona State at 4 p.m. All tournament games will be shown on Pac-12 Network, with the championship game on ESPN2.

As a team, UCLA owns the best batting average in the conference at .345 and three players – Maya Brady and freshmen Jordan Woolery and Kennedy Powell – are hitting above .400.

“It’s super powerful,” Brady said of the deep hitting. “It allows everybody to just kind of be who they are and not kind of make up their own story of ‘Oh, I have to do more because I don’t really have the team behind me or anybody really having my back.’”

Brady, a redshirt junior, was crowned the Pac-12 batting champion with her .456 average. She’s in the running for USA Softball Player of the Year as a top 10 finalist. Her 16 home runs and 56 RBI rank second in the conference.

Freshman Megan Grant has assumed the leadoff spot in the batting order and has combined with Woolery for the most RBI in a season by two freshmen in program history. Grant has 54 RBI and Woolery has 45.

The contributions of the freshman class go beyond numbers, however. Brady can remember a practice earlier this season at which the coaching staff asked who among the players thought they were a leader. Nearly all the freshmen raised their hands.

“It was their first day, we were all like, ‘OK, jeez,’” Brady recalled. “Their renewed energy has really sparked something in all of us returners.

“You can get caught up in kind of the ‘Oh it’s another season, it’s another tournament.’ Seeing them so excited and like so hyped to play in those environments that they’ve watched for four years on TV has really gave us new purpose.”

Inouye-Perez has already called freshman pitcher Taylor Tinsley “the future” of UCLA softball, and she’s been absorbing knowledge from Megan Faraimo, another top 10 finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year.

Faraimo has reached 100 career wins in her redshirt-senior season and, at 28-2, is the winningest pitcher in the Pac-12 with a 1.11 ERA and 215 strikeouts. Two other UCLA pitchers are among the top 5 lowest ERAs in the conference in Tinsley (1.47) and Brooke Yanez (2.02), a sixth-year senior who transferred from Oregon.

“She’s the heartbeat of the program,” Inouye-Perez said of Faraimo. “This year I wanted her to focus a little bit more herself instead of focusing on everyone else. That’s not an easy task for her. It feels selfish to her, but she has found a way to manage both.”

The Bruins have the opportunity to put their depth to the test in the Pac-12 tournament. The single-elimination format creates a heightened sense of urgency, as opposed to the Women’s College World Series that offers three-game series.

“Everyone on the team has a role,” Woolery said, “whether you’re cheering the loudest or getting the biggest hit. Everyone has a place on the team and I think that’s why we’re doing so good this year because everyone’s really finding their role and embracing what they’re bringing to the team.”

UCLA at Pac-12 tournament

When: Thursday, 4 p.m.

Where: Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium, Tucson, Arizona.

TV: Pac-12 Networks