UCLA softball ace Taylor Tinsley remains hard at work in her quest for an NCAA title

As Taylor Tinsley prepares to pitch in her big games of the season for the UCLA softball team, her parents have begun their own process.

The flight is from Atlanta to Los Angeles on Delta. It operates remotely out of Tiverton House close to campus. They settled into their familiar seats behind home plate at Easton Stadium.

It’s the same pattern that Keith and Denise Tinsley follow every time Taylor arrives at her home away from home in suburban Atlanta.

Keith Tinsley, Taylor’s father, told the California Post: “We’re going to hack and use credit cards, but it’s worth it.”

Their daughter really knows what it’s like to go the distance.

As for the Bruins’ turnaround, Tinsley has started every postseason game and pitched 67 ⅔ of the team’s final 76 innings. The senior right-hander would become the first UCLA pitcher to start every NCAA Tournament game en route to the Women’s College World Series since Ally Carda in 2015.

As they watched in amazement, the Tinsleys found themselves blown away by their daughter throwing up almost everywhere.

“As a parent you love it and it’s fun to watch, at the same time, it’s like, God, I hope his arm doesn’t fall off,” Keith said with a laugh.

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Taylor will start Friday evening at Easton Stadium when the Bruins (50-8), ranked No. 8 nationally, open their best-of-three Super Regional against Central Florida (41-17-1). He’ll likely start Game 2 – and if there’s a Game 3, expect to see him again.

The heavy workload — and intensive recovery that includes cold baths, massages and stretching — means the Tinsleys don’t get to spend much time with their daughter on the cross-country trip. Breakfast, maybe. Maybe coffee together or an In-N-Out run.

The upside could come from the Bruins’ first national championship since 2019 thanks to their record-breaking offense and a quarterback who takes the ball away from his coach and rarely returns it.

“That would be the best thing,” Tinsley said of winning the title along with fellow seniors Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery.

Glimpses of Tinsley’s importance were seen last week after he pitched nearly every inning of UCLA’s three-game regional victory.

Asked what Tinsley brought to the team, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez began to answer before choking up. Sitting next to her coach, Tinsley leaned on Inouye-Perez’s shoulder in a show of support before reaching out to shake her hand.

Breaking the silence, Grant intervened so his coach could compose himself.

“We know what you’re doing for us,” Grant said of Tinsley. “He sacrifices everything for this team.”

Finally, after wiping away tears but still trying to speak, Inouye-Perez said, “It’s a lot – what he means, a lot. He has a lot of fight and a lot of courage, and he will definitely go down in history as one of my most influential pitchers, and I love him to death.”

With that, the coach reached out to give Tinsley a warm hug.

Tinsley has gone solo after transferring fellow forwards Kaitlyn Terry and Addisen Fisher before the season. Three others started games for the Bruins, but none emerged as the No. 1 option.

In an encouraging development, sophomore Brynne Nally pitched 2 ⅔ quality innings of relief last week against California Baptist. Every other inning was handled by Tinsley, who compiled a 30-6 record with a 3.03 ERA and 22 complete games.

Lessening the strain on his arm is that he’s not just a fireball player, mixing mostly soft tunes into his repertoire. Tinsley also maintains a year-round regimen of running, yoga and Pilates to stay in what Inouye-Perez calls the best shape of her life.

His beginnings in sports would never cease to amuse his father, who played softball as a hobby.

“I came home one night from a little pitch, mud, blood and beer all over me, my hand wrapped and my wife was like, ‘I just signed Taylor up for softball,’ ” Keith said. “I’m like, ‘No, you didn’t — look at me, she’s 4 years old. You’re not putting my baby girl in there.’ He said, ‘I’m not raising a girl,’ so I said, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ “

They left, the father training his daughter until she improved greatly in her skills. Enjoying UCLA’s history as the most prominent college program in sports, Tinsley dreamed of becoming a Bruin even though it seemed a world away from his private high school.

Inouye-Perez fulfilled those dreams when she began recruiting the top high school player in Softball America, talking on the phone several times a week for hours — often about things unrelated to softball.

“It’s almost like a family relationship, mother and daughter in that way,” Tinsley said, “just because he’s able to connect with me on a deep level and really understand me, and I think that’s important for everybody honestly to have a coach like that who really cares about your well-being off the field.”

Of course, family support is never far from Tinsley. All he has to do is look up into the stands behind home plate.