Aaliyah Jordan Earns Medical Redshirt, Will Return to UCLA Softball For 7th Season

Jordan suffered a season-ending injury in February and has been given permission to return to the Bruins for 2023.

One of the Bruins’ injured veteran figures will be returning for one more year after being permitted the opportunity by the NCAA.

Only appearing in the first eight games of the season, UCLA softball (31-3, 9-0 Pac-12) redshirt senior outfielder Aaliyah Jordan had been sitting on the bench rooting on her teammates for nearly two months. Jordan suffered a torn left ACL when she collided with Texas’ first baseman during the St. Pete Elite Clearwater Invitational on Feb. 19.

Jordan’s season and collegiate career seemed to have ended with the knee injury, but on Monday afternoon, the sixth-year slugger received news that will prolong her college experience. The power-hitting cornerstone of the Bruins’ lineup was granted a medical hardship waiver for a seventh season by the NCAA and Pac-12 on Monday, she and the team announced on Twitter.

Following Jordan being told the news of her ability to come back in 2023, she spoke to D1Softball about her return.

“It was super exciting,” Jordan said. “I told (UCLA’s associate compliance director Lucia Serrano) ‘I have no clue what you said the last two minutes,’ because I was just so excited. I was really nervous about it because I was not sure how long it would take to find out. I think the whole practice I was just smiling because I was so excited.”

Jordan was an NFCA All-American and All-Pac-12 First Team member in the 2021 season. Across 51 games played last campaign, the left-handed hitter slashed .317/.456/.563 while launching eight home runs and accumulating 33 RBIs.

In 2022, Jordan was only able to make an impact in a few games, hitting home runs in victories against Nevada, Auburn and Texas before going down with her injury.

Arriving in Westwood in 2017, the Chula Vista, California, native began her UCLA career with a torn ACL in her right knee that kept her out of the season entirely. Then, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic offered all NCAA softball players to earn an extra year of eligibility.

Jordan, who will be 24 years old next season, has the opportunity to help bring the Bruins to the Women’s College World Series in 2022 with her leadership off the field and in 2023 back at the plate.

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