Sports
Sharlize Palacios brings peace and passion to UCLA's Women's College World Series run
This time, the adrenaline didn’t rush through Sharlize Palacios’ body. Stepping into the batter’s box with the bases loaded, down four runs to Arizona on Senior Day at Easton Stadium, the UCLA catcher didn’t feel stressed. She didn’t feel pressure as the Bruins were trying to mount a seven-run comeback. She felt at peace.
She felt her grandmother.
Inspired by her late grandmother Lori Barajas and strengthened by a tight-knit family, Palacios has led No. 6 UCLA back to the Women’s College World Series, where the Bruins will face three-time defending champion Oklahoma on Saturday at noon PST (ABC) at Oklahoma City’s Devon Park. The winner advances to Monday’s national semifinals.
Starting with Palacios’ clutch grand slam against Arizona on April 28, UCLA (43-10) has won 14 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the country. When the ball smacked off Palacios’ bat, she immediately raised both arms over her head. When it flew over the fence, she turned her palms to the sky and tilted her head back.
“This whole season has been kind of my testimony,” Palacios said. “A lot of the times that I’ve been down and we’ve been behind, I literally feel my grandma when I’m playing.”
Barajas was a strong-willed woman, Palacios recalled. She was also “the sweetest lady.” She loved cooking for her family and hosting parties. She was too nervous to watch her grandchildren’s games live, but loved tuning in on TV as long as she knew they won. She was a devoted Christian.
When Barajas died near the beginning of the 2023 softball season at 78, Palacios lost her faith. She was already navigating life with a new program after transferring from Arizona, and to do it while grieving left her in “a weird spot,” Palacios said. Then she suffered a season-ending hand injury on April 22 against Arizona State.
“I felt a lot of guilt,” Palacios said. “I wanted to help the team any way I could and I felt like I was helpless.”
The Bruins racked up 52 regular-season wins, the most for the program since 2001, but didn’t win a postseason game. Shortstop Maya Brady, who played travel ball with Palacios since they were 12, noted how the dynamic shifted on the field without the three-time Pac-12 all-defensive team player.
Palacios was resigned to calling pitches from the dugout in an attempt to contribute. Off the field, she found solace in her family, which was back together in Southern California after the Chula Vista native had transferred to UCLA.
“She was meant to end her career at this program,” older sister Sashel said.
UCLA catcher Sharlize Palacios tags out Alabama’s Kali Heivilin at the plate during the fifth inning of the Bruins’ Women’s College World Series win on Thursday.
(Brandon Wade / Associated Press)
Palacios saved her best for her final season in college. Fueled by gratitude instilled from mental performance coach Armando Gonzalez, the four-time all-conference honoree was named a second-team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Assn., her first All-American honor. She has a team-high 20 home runs and ranks second in RBIs with 57.
But as a guiding force for two underclassmen pitchers in their first postseasons, the 5-foot-6 catcher’s most valuable asset comes from beyond the stat sheet.
“Her biggest muscle is her heart,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “It’s been a very intentional leadership [from] her to understand that she needs to be firm with her pitchers, but she also needs to be with them. … They love her, but they listen to her, and that’s called respect.”
Palacios learned the art of catching from her father Francisco, who passed it to all three of his kids. He played catcher and was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 1992. Sashel represented Mexico at the Tokyo Olympics after starring at Arizona State. Youngest brother Sabian, who will graduate from high school in June and begin college at San Diego studying engineering, also played catcher in baseball.
Palacios had a brief flirtation with pitching, but after she asked her grandfather if she did well in her first game in the circle, he said, “You sucked.” She never pitched again.
Sitting in the team hotel in Oklahoma City, Palacios can laugh at the memory. From following her father and older sister, she knew she was meant to be a catcher. The family practiced together in the front yard, learning to appreciate the intricacies of the position that often are overshadowed. A catcher’s subtle blocked ball or well-timed break in play don’t show up in box scores. Instead it’s the pitchers who gets to write their name in the record books after a perfect game or the team that gets to hoist another trophy.
For Palacios, those rewards are more than enough.
“My flowers come from hearing the team do well, hearing my teammates doing well and especially the pitchers,” she said. “Whenever the pitchers get praise, it fills my cup for what I need.”
The catcher, Francisco always told his kids, is “the mom to the pitchers.”
From being the eager younger sibling following around Sashel, Palacios now fills the older sister role by inviting the pitchers on coffee runs to bond. In the circle, when she sees sophomore Taylor Tinsley or freshman Kaitlyn Terry getting sped up, she instructs them to take deep breaths. Even when Terry, a stone-faced freshman with an intense competitive streak, tries to shake off Palacios’ timeout calls, the catcher can break through.
When Tinsley entered Thursday’s first-round game at the World Series, she quickly loaded the bases on a four-pitch walk in the fifth inning. Tinsley wasn’t nervous, Palacios knew, but the sophomore was spinning the ball so well in her first World Series appearance that it was spinning out of the zone. Palacios met with the pitcher in the circle.
“It’s just me, you, and the glove,” Palacios said.
Tinsley got out of the jam with Alabama scoring only one run. Palacios connected with right fielder Megan Grant for a play at the plate to end the inning.
“She’s such a leader,” Tinsley said of Palacios before the World Series. “It’s honestly intimidating. If I was the other team, I’d be intimidated by just her presence behind the plate.”
Sashel, five years older than her sister, loves seeing Palacios in her element in her final college season. This season, with five dramatic comeback wins of four or more runs, feels “written in the stars,” Sashel said. After several heartbreaking plot twists, Palacios has put her trust in the script.
“A year later after being injured and losing our grandma, she has really matured and there’s a sense of peace that she’s playing with a lot of passion,” Sashel said. “But it’s a very reassuring presence. There’s no need to add more stress. She knows it’s gonna get done.”
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Related Article
Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Related Article
If you loved ‘Sinners,’ here’s what to watch next
Meta’s AI glasses reportedly send sensitive footage to human reviewers in Kenya
Iran continues firing missiles, drones at neighboring states, with multiple interceptions reported
Paxton vows he’s ‘staying in this race’ even if Trump backs Cornyn in Texas GOP clash
Do collagen supplements really improve skin? Major review reveals the truth
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Paxton vows he’s ‘staying in this race’ even if Trump backs Cornyn in Texas GOP clash
Which Kurdish groups is the US rallying to fight Iran?
Man accused of plot to assassinate Trump testifies Iran pressured him, says Biden and Haley were other possible targets
DHS defends McLaughlin against allegations husband’s company profited millions from ad contracts: ‘Baseless’
Fareed Zakaria’s takes on Trump and the collapse of nuclear stability
-
World1 week agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Wisconsin3 days agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Maryland4 days agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Florida4 days agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Denver, CO1 week ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Massachusetts2 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Oregon6 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling