Catchers are often unsung heroes, while pitchers tend to wear the cape.
But Sunday featured prolific performances from both positions.
No. 7 UCLA softball (21-3, 3-0 Big Ten) defeated Wisconsin (14-10, 0-3) 16-9 Sunday at Easton Stadium to complete the opening-series sweep in its conference slate. Redshirt junior catcher Alexis Ramirez and senior pitcher Taylor Tinsley spearheaded the Bruins’ 15th-straight victory.
Ramirez stepped behind the plate, taking over for sophomore catcher Sofia Mujica when coach Kelly Inouye-Perez swapped Tinsley and sophomore pitcher Brynne Nally in the top of the second. Nally had allowed five hits and four earned runs across 1.1 innings pitched, which helped give the Badgers a 6-4 lead entering the bottom of the second.
Ramirez said she and Tinsley have developed a close relationship across their four years in Westwood, especially as members of the 2022 recruiting class, which has led to their frequent pairing on the diamond.
The Lawrenceville, Georgia, local forfeited just three earned runs for the rest of the contest and blanked the Wisconsin lineup across the last three innings to clinch UCLA’s victory.
“She comes in, she works her butt off in the bullpens with practices and everything, and it’s just showing in the game,” said senior utility Megan Grant. “I’m just really proud of her for her fight.”
Tinsley had to adapt to substantial circle turnover ahead of the 2026 campaign, especially with former Bruin pitchers Addisen Fisher and Kaitlyn Terry transferring to Georgia and Texas Tech, respectively.
Nevertheless, Inouye-Perez said Tinsley was poised to take the ace mantle in the circle, especially after earning an NFCA All-American Third Team selection in 2025.
“She’s the ace, and she’s gonna get the ball when we need to,” Inouye-Perez said. “Today, we needed her to close it out. In a perfect world, Brynne (Nally) could have gone longer … but the game didn’t play that way. She’s (Tinsley’s) ready to go three days in a row. She’s an All American. She’s proven it since her sophomore year, and nothing’s going to change.”
Tinsley earned all three wins from the circle across the three-game series against Wisconsin, allowing just 11 combined hits and three earned runs across 12.2 innings pitched.
From behind the plate, Ramirez plated a team-high six RBIs – tying her career-high mark – and hammered a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth to extend the Bruins’ lead to 15-9. Ramirez’s base-clearing blast helped quell the Badgers’ comeback attempt, after they scored three runs in the top half of the inning to cut the deficit to two runs.
The Whittier, California, local recorded her two additional RBIs with the bases loaded, where she barreled two pitches up the middle of the field in the bottom of the second and third, respectively.
Ramirez sustained a season-ending leg injury just five games into her second-year campaign in 2024, but she returned in 2025, corking the go-ahead, two-run homer in game one of the 2025 Women’s College World Series against Oregon in UCLA’s 4-2 victory May 29.
“She’s come off of injury and taken a lot of time off,” Inouye-Perez said. “It’s nice to see her get hot and come through in big moments. She’s doing a great job … coming up on the offensive side and coming through with some big hits.”
The redshirt junior has improved her plate approach in 2026, needing one more home run to match her 2025 tally. Ramirez posted six home runs across 99 at-bats last season. She has hit five across just 42 at-bats this season.
The fourth-year Bruin said that associate head coach Lisa Fernandez has helped bolster the squad’s offensive output, particularly from a slugging standpoint. UCLA boasts a .824 team slugging percentage this season, which ranks second in the nation.
“We trained really hard in the fall, and Coach Lisa had a really large emphasis on playing our own game,” Ramirez said. “We’re just really relentless, and it’s that you put on the gas-pedal mindset and keep trying to score every inning and win every inning.”
UCLA will return to Easton Stadium on Wednesday night to face LMU in its first midweek matchup of the 2026 campaign.
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