UCLA Softball at Center of WCWS Review Critiques

Thirteen long minutes passed by as the UCLA's First Team All-American first baseman Megan Grant anxiously waited to see if a costly mistake abruptly ended the Bruins' season in Sunday's eventual 5-4 loss to the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in the 2025 Women's College World Series.

Down 4-2 with two outs and a runner on base in the bottom of the seventh, Grant hit a massive two-run home run tied the game. Except, it almost didn't.

As Grant crossed home plate to celebrate with all of UCLA's dugout, she stomped over the base, missing it completely, and celebrated with her team before catcher Alexis Ramirez, UCLA's next batter pulled her from the circle and told her to step on the base.

Shortly thereafter, officials reviewed. Tennessee's coach argued that she was assisted back to the plate by a player from the dugout. According to NCAA's rulebook, this would be illegal and result in an out and the end of the Bruins' season, souring an all-time moment for the All-American junior in the blink of an eye.

Except Grant had to sit with the prospect of the worst mistake of her career for 13 excruciating minutes as the officials reviewed the play. The ruling on the field, that the run counts, was eventually upheld because the infraction wasn't seen live.

Yes. Thirteen live minutes to come to a conclusion that was evident in the moment. Of course the officials had to find the rule that upheld Grant's mistake, but the time it took to review was the culmination of a bigger problem at the Women's College World Series.

Many criticized the lack of stable rulesets and abundance of time wasted reviewing plays that could be decided on in half the time in most cases.

“First of all, the ability to come together and say that we have the opportunity to win this game is something that we call Bruin Magic. It came together with the energy in the dugout, those kind of moments are things we live for at UCLA. The delay is something that I’ve never experienced, and what potentially could have happened, my mind was spinning too on how this would be devastating to have that happe," UCLA softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said.

"So, it was a long one, that’s it. I just told everyone to hang tight and got clarity on a few things with what actually happened because I didn’t see it at the end of the day. How long was it? Fourteen (minute review)? That’s rough for that to have to happen, but bottom line, she hit the two-run home run and tied up the game, so I’ll remember that forever.”