On a day in which eight seniors on the UCLA softball team were honored, the Bruins couldn’t catch a break.
No. 12 UCLA (34-15, 10-8 Pac-10) fell to No. 15 Stanford (32-16-1, 7-10-1) by a score of 4-1 on Sunday in a game in which the Bruins smacked line drive after line drive right into the waiting gloves of the Stanford players.
“That’s just how it is sometimes; the game doesn’t know,” said senior shortstop Jodie Legaspi, who had upward of 50 friends and family members in attendance. “You’re going to have days like this.”
The defeat turned the weekend into a disappointing outcome for the Bruins, who lost 3-1 to Cal (32-27, 6-11 Pac-10) on Friday. The Bruins were able to savor one win over the weekend with a 3-0 victory over Stanford on Saturday, but the two losses dropped the Bruins to 4th place in the Pac-10.
UCLA now has to rebound with at least one victory in their three-game set in Arizona against No. 5 Arizona and No. 9 Arizona State next weekend if it wants to have a good chance at securing a bid to host an NCAA Regional in the first round of postseason play.
“We just have to go back to basic fundamentals,” UCLA coach Kelly-Inouye Perez said. “We can’t make anything bigger than it is.”
After a tough offensive game against Cal on Friday, the Bruins were able to bounce back with some timely hits in Saturday’s victory over Stanford. While Sunday’s meager three hits might look like a revert back to Friday’s struggles, the Bruins were able to put together plenty of solid at-bats, drawing three walks and taking Stanford sophomore pitcher Missy Penna deep into the count many times. But a few terrific defensive plays by Penna and the rest of the Cardinal infield limited the Bruins at key moments in the game.
With two outs and runners on second and third in the first inning, freshman 1B/P Megan Langenfeld smashed a line drive right at Stanford right fielder Shannon Koplitz, who ended the inning by making the catch.
Then in the fourth inning, Penna robbed UCLA senior center fielder Tara Henry of a hit, with a leaping grab and timely throw to first on Henry’s high ground ball up the middle. Penna also made a nifty catch on a Langenfeld line drive to lead off the bottom of the fifth.
“(Inouye-Perez) told us after the game that (Sunday) just wasn’t our day,” said senior 1B/2B/P Lisa Dodd, who hit her team-leading 13th home run in Saturday’s win over Stanford. “I can’t even count how many line drives we hit at people. Megan almost killed (Penna).”
Defensively, the Bruins were pretty solid all weekend, but freshman third baseman Julie Burney made one poor decision Sunday. With a runner on first and no one out in the fourth inning, Burney fielded a sacrifice bunt by Stanford lead hitter Jackie Rinehart and tried to get the lead runner out at second base. But the throw went into center field and would have been too late even if it had been a good throw. Both runners were safe on the play and ended up scoring later in the inning.
“We have a simple phrase: when in doubt, just take an out,” said Inouye-Perez. “(Burney) sped the game up a little too much trying to make something more and it ended up being very costly.”
QUICK HITS: Following a pregame ceremony honoring the Bruin seniors, UCLA football coach Karl Dorrell threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Dorrell’s pitch was straight, but bounced in right before it reached home plate. … With UCLA, Arizona State and Washington all taking losses this weekend, Arizona’s three-game sweep of the Oregon schools clinched the Pac-10 title for the Wildcats.
CORRECTION: The story should have said that while freshman third baseman Julie Burney’s fielding on a sacrifice bunt during Sunday’s game at Stanford was costly, it did not cost the Bruins the game.