KANIYA BRAGG, a Pacifica grad, will play for UCLA in the College Softball World Series (UCLA photo).

The Pacifica High softball program has long been a national power, feeding talent to NCAA champs and USA Olympic teams.

Kaniya Bragg could be the latest Mariner standout to make an impression on the national stage.

Her UCLA team will open play Thursday in the College Softball World Series when the Bruins host Oregon in an opening round game at OGE Energy Field at Devon Park in Oklahoma City. If they win, they’ll play again on Saturday against the winner of the Texas Tech-Ole Miss game.

The championship final will be a best-of-three set on June 4, 5 and maybe 6.

There will be a lot of pressure for all teams and players, but Kaniya, an infielder, has been in the spotlight for much of her athletic career. She led Pacifica to consecutive CIF-SS Division 1 titles in 2023 and 2024.

Individual honors have been showered on her. She was named CIF-SS Player of the Year and the Los Angeles Times named her as Softball Player of the Year.

And she’s used to pressure situations. In what she called her “greatest athletic thrill,” she hit the game-winning home run in her final high school at-bat as Pacifica won the 2024 CIF-SS title.

But softball isn’t her only skill. While at PHS she played four years of softball and basketball and three years of volleyball.

Regardless of how things turn out in Oklahoma City, as a freshman she’s just getting started. And who knows how fan she can go? She’s not the first Mariner to drape an Olympic gold medal around her neck and likely not the last.