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Some players just have that “it” factor and, from an early age, current UCLA Junior Briana Perez was on the well-recognized track to softball success.
The infielder has been an All-American in her career in Westwood and continues to be a key reason the Bruins are one of the top teams in the nation with a chance to do some serious damage in this year’s Women’s College World Series (and repeat after winning it all in 2019; the 2020 playoffs were cancelled because of COVID).
Currently, the NorCal native is hitting .379, third best on the team, with a .444 on-base percentage and leads the Pac-12 power in multiple offensive categories including 87 at-bats, 32 runs scored, 33 hits, eight home runs, three triples, 27 RBIs and 70 total bases.
On Friday, Bri smashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to spark UCLA’s 6-1 win over Washington in a battle of two Top 5-ranked teams in the nation.
Briana’s swing of the bat staked the Bruins to a 3-0 lead after Anna Vines singled with one out and Kinsley Washington walked with two outs. Perez then launched the first pitch she saw over the right-field wall at Easton Stadium to put UCLA ahead to stay.
SEE-YA!!!!
Perez with the high fly ball to right field. Her team-best eighth homer of the season.
3-0 Bruins, B3.
Watch: https://t.co/w5EgCtJ2X3#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/pkhpsnxgDl
— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) April 24, 2021
The home run was even more impressive in that it came off one of the top pitchers in college today and, perhaps, of all time: Gabbie Plain.
Gabbie had her program-record undefeated start ended as she suffered her first loss of the year to go to 23-1. Plain was the only pitcher in the nation with 20+ wins and no losses, with only one other pitcher recording at least 15 wins without a loss.
Along with another outstanding pitching performance from possible National Player of the Year Rachel Garcia, Bri was the star of the game and was chosen to do the post-game interview.
Check out this fun video done by the Pac-12 Network where Bri’s teammates made her interview anything but easy!
I’ve been privileged to have covered Bri and her old sister Kylee, who was a standout at UCLA from 2015-2018 and like her young sibling was a standout in the club scene and at Alhambra (California) High in NorCal.
In November of 2016, I had Briana ranked as the #1 player in the 2017 class… here’s what I wrote about her in November of 2016:
*** Scroll down to read our bio on Bri when she was #1 in the Class of 2017 and also enjoy this video we made of her… in 2013!
