Tom Brady Shouts Out Maya Brady, UCLA Softball During Capital One's The Match
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Despite trading in the gridiron for the links this week, Tom Brady wasn't about to overlook what's going down on the diamond.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback participated in the sixth rendition of Capital One's The Match on Wednesday alongside Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. The quartet of NFL superstars all took part in the round of exhibition match-play golf in Las Vegas, and it aired live on TNT with commentary and interviews throughout.
While speaking with host Ernie Johnson, Brady decided to draw attention to UCLA softball, which opens up play at the Women's College World Series on Thursday at 9 a.m. PST against Texas. Brady's niece, Maya, is a redshirt sophomore starting center fielder for the Bruins who bats out of the No. 5 hole and ranks second on the team with 13 home runs.
Brady said he plans to watch the UCLA-Texas game with his family Thursday morning, although he mistakenly claimed they were playing Duke, who was eliminated by the blue and gold last round.
Brady also spoke about how, growing up, his older sisters were the star athletes of the family and that he was known as their little brother. Tom's sister and Maya's mother, Muareen, went on to become an All-American pitcher at Fresno State.
Maya Brady got to UCLA in 2020 and immediately won Softball America's Freshman Player of the Year after leading her team in home runs and RBIs in the COVID-shortened campaign. After picking up All-Pac-12 and All-American honors in 2021, she returned in 2022 to continue to fill up the stat sheet.
In addition to her 13 home runs, Brady hit .329 with a 1.056 OPS, 46 RBIs, 53 hits and a team-high 49 runs. She went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in game two of the NCAA Super Regionals against the Blue Devils on Saturday, sending the Bruins to their seventh-straight Women's College World Series as a result.
UCLA has won 12 NCAA titles, but Brady has not been around for any of them. She did appear in Oklahoma City last June, but the Bruins were eliminated after back-to-back losses to Alabama and Oklahoma.
As a result, Brady will be looking to claim her first ever championship by the end of next week. Her uncle, on the other hand, was the backup quarterback on Michigan's 1997 national championship team who ultimately started in their 1999 Citrus Bowl and 2000 Orange Bowl victories. Tom Brady went on to win six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and one with the Buccaneers.
Brady has held several offseason workouts in Westwood through the years, taking full advantage of UCLA's Wasserman Football Center ever since it opened in 2017. Tom had yet to make it to one of Maya's games at Easton Stadium, but he has gone out of his way to praise her on social media and even call her "the most dominant athlete in the Brady family...by far!"
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