The UCLA softball team was preparing to hold its final practice Wednesday in Oklahoma City before opening play in the Women’s College World Series when players were alerted by social media of a shooting 1,300 miles away on their campus.

“The girls were affected as far as hearing from people that were on lockdown on campus, so that’s always emotional and can be traumatic,” UCLA Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said.

“All I could do was pull them together to simply say, ‘It’s a crazy world we live in and it’s a perfect example of understanding what is in your control and what is out of your control.’”

Inouye-Perez instructed players to put their phones away for practice and told them she would monitor the situation.


By the end of the workout the team learned that there was no longer a threat on campus and that it was described as a murder-suicide.

Inouye-Perez acknowledge that each player would handle the situation differently.

“I’ll be with them, I’ll support them in whatever they need to be able to, but I believe we’ll be … able to focus and be able to kind of get back to why we are here,” Inouye-Perez said.

The Bruins play Auburn Thursday at 11:30 am PDT.


lindsey.thiry@latimes.com

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