Kelly Inouye-Perez recaps Maya Brady's career at UCLA

UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez took a look back at Maya Brady’s career with the Bruins and couldn’t hold back the praise.

With UCLA’s season over, it was fair to look back on the Brady impact on UCLA. Sounds familiar to another athlete in the family right?

Inouye-Perez talked about the clutch moments from Brady and always coming up big.

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“You were talking about just there’s types of players, players that can hit, pitch, run, all these things,” Inouye-Perez said. “There’s players that separate themselves out with the ability to come through in big moments.

“I know everybody could walk away saying we just wanted to see Maya do great things just in this tournament. What she did to get us here in those big, critical moments, will be remembered. This was a tough year.”

Then, the praise rolled in on Brady from her head coach.

“So with that, to answer your question, Maya Brady is not just a great athlete and hitter, but she was a clutch hitter because she takes the responsibility to find a way to help the team win,” Inouye-Perez said of Brady. “Sometimes she wants it a little too much. As a result, the hard part for her is the whole country is not going to serve it up on a platter for Maya Brady to at this point to watch her what she does.

“I put her in the leadoff spot because how she handles success, how she handles failure breeds confidence into the team. She’ll get out, come straight back up, even though she’s burning inside, she’ll come back and bleed right into her teammates. That is leadership.”

Brady can be loud and in your face. That’s what made her a great competitor for UCLA. Inouye-Perez described how much love her player received from teammates.

“She’s a fierce ballplayer, but she’s such a respected and loved leader on this team,” the coach said. “She left her mark on the game. Everybody loved to watch her play because she’s one swing away from adding to the numbers.

“If you knew her, it’s so much more than that. She just wants to find a way to help her team win. She stepped out of character from what she’s been able to do in the first three to four years, the COVID year was off, and she was a leader. She had to be a leader for the younger ones. For the first time she was the old one, still had to find a way to compete on the field. That’s harder than just playing softball.”

As far as the future is concerned one things for sure, Brady will always be remembered for her time at UCLA.

“I’m proud of her,” Inouye-Perez said. “She have left her mark. I’m going to stay in touch for her forever. I’m proud of her mother and how she raised her. More than that, I hope she continues to play because, man, it’s fun watching her compete on that stage.”