2025 WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 1, 2025

Kelly Inouye-Perez

Jordan Woolery

Megan Grant

UCLA Bruins

Postgame Press Conference

Tennessee 5, UCLA 4

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Inouye-Perez. If you have an opening statement, feel free.

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: Yeah, first and foremost, I want to congratulate Tennessee. Just a great battle to the end, and wish them the best of luck moving forward.

For us, though, I could not be more proud. Period. Just the ability for us to be able to fight. The ability for us to come back. The epic "just down to the last pitch." There's something about what UCLA softball can do with your backs against the wall and rise to the occasion to create amazing memories. The experience gained for my younger Bruins, for these Bruins who have been here before, just showed who they are on the biggest stage is something I am proud of. I'm really excited for the future.

Q. Megan, talk a little bit about that home run and then the review and the delay and all that went into that.

MEGAN GRANT: You know, it was just kind of a blackout moment. I know going into that bat I just wanted to keep my mind right, stay aggressive. And honestly, after the swing, I did blackout indeed. After the fact, I just kind of trusted God with everything. The tensions were high and everything, and that's just where I just laid my pressure on.

Q. Both of you, a lot of this team is expected to return next year, and how do you take these moments and just prepare to get back and even further for next year?

MEGAN GRANT: Yeah, we have a pretty young team. So I was just grateful that they got the chance to experience the stage, you know. I was really happy to see them do well as well.

I think it's just great motivation going into next year, and I can't wait.

JORDAN WOOLERY: Yeah, I agree. I think experience is the greatest lesson we can learn, especially the freshmen being on such a big stage and thriving. It speaks to how amazing they are and how bright the future is next year too.

Q. You two are quite the duo for UCLA softball. The Steph and Klay, as you said, of UCLA softball. And, Megan, I don't know if you know this, but you broken the single-season record in the Big Ten for home runs at 26, and the combination of the two of you at 49 this year.

MEGAN GRANT: No!

Q. Just short. I would love to hear your thoughts on you two as a pair.

JORDAN WOOLERY: Oh, my gosh. I'm really sad we didn't get to 50. But Meg is awesome. She makes it easy for me to be great, and in the game today, knowing that it wasn't all on me to get the job done with two outs. If you have Megan behind you, it's easy to feel a lot less pressure.

So just getting on and letting Meg do the rest. As soon as she hit the ball, I started crying. It was just such a good moment and a culmination of all the year in one moment. So it was awesome to see. We'll be back. So get ready. 50 is coming!

MEGAN GRANT: (Laughter) Um, wow. I don't know. I always say I have the best seat in the house with Jo, being behind her. And like she said, she makes my job easy. She doesn't really know it, though. Just us together makes the challenges, makes the obstacles, whatever we go through, easier when we do it together. So having her by my side is one of the most important things when I'm playing. So I just -- I love you.

Q. Jordan, you had four hits off Karlyn Pickens, the whole team had 11. That's more than any team has had against her in her career. What made you see her so well, and what were you seeing at the plate?

JORDAN WOOLERY: Yeah, just fighting for another day. I really wanted to play for the seniors today. So doing whatever I could to get the job done.

I think we had a really good game plan going in. Coach Lisa, Will, and Bubba did a great job preparing us, and I feel like hitting velo yesterday too made us ready for the moment today too.

THE MODERATOR: Any more questions for players? Thank you, players, you're dismissed.

Q. Coach, talk about when Megan hits that no-doubter to right field, and then there's a delay and 15 minutes and all this.

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: I mean, first of all, just the ability to come together and say that we have this opportunity to win this game, that's something we call Bruin magic. Came together, got the energy in the dugout. So those kind of moments are things that we live for at UCLA.

The delay is something that I've never experienced. And potentially what could have happened was -- my mind was spinning too on this would be devastating to be able to have that happen.

So it was a long one, that's it. I just told everyone to hang tight and kind of got clarity on a few things with what happened because I didn't see it at the end of the day. But long... how long was it? 14? That's rough for that to happen.

Bottom line, she hit the two-run home run and tied up the game. So I'll remember that forever.

Q. As a coach, how rewarding is it to see a senior like Savvy Pola have a career year in her final year with you guys?

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: Those are the types of things why I love to coach. It's just difficult being a student-athlete, especially when you play well. She had such a great freshman year, and then everyone kept on saying when she wasn't as successful, What happened to Savvy Pola?

I told her it's the biggest compliment you can get. Everyone, the standard is so that high, they think there's something wrong, and it's just the game at the end of the day. She wasn't 100%, but it's just the game.

But the ability for her to finish out her senior year the way that she did is, to me, what is going to propel her into life. Through the hard, through injuries, through all the noise of everyone saying what's wrong with you? She actually went to work and got really locked in to being able to do whatever she could to help her team, and those are things that make me proud because she will forever remember there's nothing too hard.

This game can beat you up and make you doubt yourself on your ability to play softball, but for Savvy Pola, she can leave shoulders back, chin up, that she overcame it. She shined. She came through big-time, and a big part of why we're here is because of Savvy Pola.

So I couldn't be more proud. She's a great Bruin. She's going to continue her education at UCLA and get into the master's program because she wants to figure out if she can continue to give back to the sport in some capacity at the collegiate level. So we're excited to be able to have her around and her experience.

Q. Coach, I wanted to ask you about you left some runners on base last night, and you had the bases loaded in the ninth again today. Talk a little bit about what you were seeing there.

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: Yeah, with all due respect, I love that we were in that situation. We're facing some of the best arms. NiJa was real and we hit her well. We hit Karlyn Pickens well. We hit them well.

So it's the game. I wish they could have all been perfect and score 20 runs, but to get runners in scoring position is the name of the game. Quality at-bats puts you in that position, and everybody wants to come through in those big moments.

But what we did against the arms and the teams, we just played the game. And unfortunately sometimes you come through, sometimes you don't. That doesn't define you in the moment. But this team came back and fought against a great opponent.

And I told them, you're going to be remembered for your fight. Nobody wants to play this team to be able to get that outcome because we have that ability to score and come back and do pretty crazy things at the end of the ball game. And to me, that's what makes me so proud.

So to even have that comment as far as LOBs, the fact that we had, because these pitchers average double-digit strikeouts, and you didn't see that. And that's a credit to the preparation and the athletes and their commitment to doing whatever it takes to win. With that, the sport is kind of crazy, and I'm proud of their ability to do everything they did while we're here.

Q. Just talk about after the review, the resiliency of the group to lock back in and there's more softball to be played.

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: Yeah, our sport has changed, you know? This review stuff, and even Game 1, the feeling of what we were doing on the field and having it go to review and having it get overturned, you're like the sport has just changed of what's happening and the feel and what's going on.

We wanted to get the plays right. That was the whole intention of instant review. We didn't want it to be put on an umpire that has human error that could do things. And we saw the flip side where we actually went and I don't believe they got the call right. But we're constantly, as a sport, trying to elevate the sport. We're trying to do what's right for the sport.

So we implemented instant review, and it's part of the game now. ESPN I know doesn't like it, especially those long delays. And a big part of why we're so big right now is because of ESPN. So I appreciate the ability to try to -- bottom line, the girls work so hard, we want to try to get everything right.

Delays are part of it, and the goal is to make sure they don't leave any stone unturned. But they have the ability to take 14, 15 minutes to figure out what the actual call is. So it's just part of the game now.

Q. I just wanted to ask about Taylor Tinsley. You put her in in the sixth inning and then she holds them for three innings. What does that say about her as a competitor especially in this type of environment?

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: I think one of my favorite moments when she went in -- actually, I don't have it exact, but there was a moment I intentionally walked a hitter, and the girls all called time-out and they circled around her and that was the crew you just saw right here. They were together.

It was a big moment, and, yes, they're a very powerful team and we got ourselves out of that inning which was so huge. So those are the things where you say the experience gained at the end of the day kind of lights a fire. It lights a fire in your ability to be able to come back and have a different outcome.

The fact that they came together and found a way to get out of that, those momentum shifts and opportunities are why you want to come and play on this stage.

So I'm proud. At the end of the day, KT actually competed. And she might have missed on a pitch, but she competed. And I love how she came out and competed today. And the fact that Taylor came in and had her back is a big part of what you saw from those two last year as well. So the future's competing because they're both very young.

MODERATOR: That'll wrap things up. Thank you.