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.

“On behalf of the Trojan Family, I thank Mike for his contributions to our athletics department during a time of rapid transformation and growth,” Folt said. “We will be announcing a transition team comprising both internal and external leaders in the coming days and will launch a national search for a new director of athletics shortly.”

Bohn, 62, arrived at USC from Cincinnati in November of 2019, replacing former Trojan standout Lynn Swann. His hiring marked a new approach for USC as just the second athletic director without previous ties to the university.

When he was hired by USC, the athletic department had been shaken by the Varsity Blues scandal and an FBI investigation into the men’s basketball program. Bohn guided the program through the end of those controversies while overhauling the athletic department and modernizing it to compete with other national powers.

Bohn’s impact on USC athletics really came into view in 2021. He extended men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield after an Elite Eight run, then hired Lindsay Gottlieb from the Cleveland Cavaliers to lead the women’s basketball program. Then later that year, he stunned the college football world by hiring Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma.

Since then, Riley has transformed the football team into national contenders, coming a win away from the College Football Playoff in 2022. Gottlieb reached the NCAA tournament in her second season with the Trojans, while Enfield has extended his tournament streak to three years.

But Bohn’s most earth-shaking move as USC athletic director came last summer, when the Trojans announced their intention to move from their traditional home in the Pac-12 conference to the Big Ten beginning in 2024.

“Over the last four years, the USC athletics department has transformed into a national powerhouse,” Folt stated. “In our singular pursuit of excellence, I am committed to ensuring we have the right leadership in place to achieve our goals. As part of that commitment and as we prepare to move to the Big Ten, we conducted a thorough review of the athletics department, including its operations, culture, and strategy. Having built a strong foundation over the last few years, now is the time for new direction grounded in our values and in expertise needed to fulfill our aspirational vision for Trojan athletics.”

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.

By the time the two-month “transfer window” closed late last week, UC Irvine’s two leading scorers from last season had left town for higher-profile programs in other states.

Cal State Fullerton’s best player also made a seamless transition to the SEC, one of the most talent-stacked conferences in the country.

And the gloomy situation at Cal State Northridge didn’t get any brighter when its program centerpiece opted to play elsewhere next season.

Suddenly, the Big West looked small again.

“It’s become the wild, wild west,” Cal State Fullerton coach Dedrique Taylor said.

Over at UC Santa Barbara, however, the Gauchos took advantage of the transfer portal to bolster their roster.

UCSB, which clinched the Big West’s lone berth into the NCAA Tournament last season, added players from Kansas, Auburn and Creighton to a squad that already included reigning Big West Player of the Year Ajay Mitchell.

Long Beach State also appears to have lifted a difference-maker out of the portal for the second consecutive year.

LBSU brought in Isa Silva, a 6-foot-4 point guard who was rated by ESPN as the No. 2 player in California coming out of Sacramento’s Jesuit High School before playing limited minutes the past two seasons at Stanford.

A year ago, Lassina Traore transferred to Long Beach from St. Louis and went on to lead the Big West in rebounding (10.5) while also averaging 12.9 points per game.

LBSU coach Dan Monson said the new transfer rules should allow for more parity in the conference.

“A lot of guys at high majors that are sitting on the bench get a chance to play,” Monson said.

After the transfer portal debuted on Oct. 15, 2018, a major change was implemented in April 2021, allowing athletes to transfer with immediate eligibility.

That same spring, the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility for athletes who were affected by the COVID-19 outbreak from the spring of 2020 to the spring of 2021.

Shortly afterward, the Division I Board of Directors approved an interim policy that allowed college athletes to earn money off their name, image and likeness (NIL).

The higher the visibility of the program, the better the opportunity for an athlete to earn six figures or more in NIL deals.

Suddenly, coaches were facing outside influences they never dealt with before.

“The combination of those three things has sort of created a situation that, at times, seems chaotic,” said UCI coach Russell Turner, who recently completed his 13th season at the school.

After moving into a starting role with the Anteaters last season and averaging 15 points per game, DJ Davis announced on April 25 that he’d signed with Butler, one of 11 teams in the formidable Big East Conference.

A week later, fellow guard Dawson Baker announced he’d signed with BYU, a program he’d grown up idolizing. Baker averaged 15.2 points last season and totaled 1,017 in three years with the Anteaters.

Although he’ll miss the contributions of Davis and Baker, Turner said he believes it’s important for athletes to have alternatives.

“Those things are special opportunities that (Davis and Baker) get to have in place of what they would have had if they stayed another year here,” Turner said. “I respect those choices.”

Taylor, who’s coming off his 10th season at Fullerton, wasn’t as forgiving with his opinion of the transfer rules, especially after what happened this offseason.

Taylor recruited Latrell Wrightsell Jr. out of Omaha Central High School in Nebraska four years ago and watched him develop into a first-team All-Big West selection last season, averaging 16.3 points per game.

Alabama, which went 31-6 last season and captured the SEC regular season and conference titles, liked what it saw from Wrightsell and signed the combo guard in late April.

Taylor said he felt like a G-League coach losing his best player to the NBA.

“The bigger schools, with their resources, they just watch our games, they watch our numbers, they watch our stats, and they pluck whomever they think is necessary,” he said. “This is the first year that it’s really jumped up and nipped us in the bud in terms of us losing our leading scorer.”

Fullerton has benefited from the portal in the past, however.

E.J. Anosike was granted an extra year of eligibility due to the COVD-19 outbreak and the power forward transferred from Tennessee to Fullerton as a graduate student two years ago.

He went on to average a team-high 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds, leading the Titans to an NCAA Tournament berth.

“It kind of works both ways, but it also kind of sucks because I think it’s the way college sports, in general, is going,” Taylor said. “There’s no more amateurism.”

Monson said he’d like to see the transfer window made even shorter, providing coaches more time to construct their rosters once it has closed.

Newly hired CSUN coach Andy Newman will try to begin rebuilding the Matador program without Atin Wright – their leading scorer last season (16.7 ppg) has transferred to Drake.

Turner said the extra year of eligibility granted to athletes has created the biggest challenge because there’s a larger pool of older players who are more likely to transfer, but he also said it’s inappropriate for fellow coaches to claim the changes have affected the quality of Division I basketball.

“The only perfect way to look at it for any of us is to try to figure how to best adapt to the situation that we’re each in,” he said. “It’s challenging. It’s not easy, but I don’t see how anybody would have much trouble with the idea that players have more freedom and more opportunity. That’s a good thing with, at times, frustrating consequences, but that’s just where we’re at.”

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.”