In the bottom of the sixth inning, second baseman Amanda Kamekona stepped up to bat with a job to do: Move the runner. Katie Schroeder, UCLA’s leadoff hitter, stood on first base after beating out a bunt single with no outs and the score knotted at zero.
Kamekona missed the first pitch from her former teammate, Cal State Fullerton’s Jessica Doucette. On the second pitch, Kamekona, a junior transfer from Fullerton, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt.
Or so she thought.
The ball died in front of the plate and was fielded by Titan catcher Lauren Lupinetti. Schroeder was already at second base standing up, so Lupinetti threw to first. She hit Kamekona in the back of her arm as the Bruins’ second baseman reached the bag. The ball dribbled into the outfield and Schroeder advanced to third.
Then umpire Tom Nassraway stepped in and ruled that Kamekona was out for runner’s interference. Schroeder was sent back to first base. The No. 2 Bruins (25-3) would fail to score and go on to lose 1-0 in eight innings.
“Honestly, I don’t really know (what happened),” Kamekona said. “I know when I started out running I was foul. But if you look, the base is in fair territory so you have to cut in. I mean, I don’t know.”
Bruin coach Kelly Inouye-Perez spoke with Nassraway after the call.
“He said she was running on the inside part of the base path, and as a result the throw hit her,” Inouye-Perez said. “You very rarely see that call being made.”
In the top of the eighth, with the game still scoreless after a regulation seven innings, both coaches agreed to invoke the international tie breaker rule, which places a runner on second base to begin the inning. Fullerton’s Ari Cervantes advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jenna Wheeler, then scored on Torrie Anderson’s shallow fly to center field. Bruin center fielder Schroeder short-hopped the ball to her sister Jennifer Schroeder, the Bruin catcher, who was unable to make the tag.
“If you don’t execute, you don’t win,” Inouye-Perez said. “We couldn’t even get on the board. … (Fullerton) just did a job; they moved a runner and they got the sacrifice fly.”
UCLA was listless on offense the entire day with four hits and six base runners. The lack of offense was highlighted especially by Kamekona. The Bruins’ second baseman was 0 for 4 against her former team.
“We do play a game of failure ““ if you fail seven out of 10 times, you’re a good hitter,” Kamekona said. “I’ve just got to come back tomorrow. You have your days. There’s days you don’t hit and there’s days you go 3 for 3.”
Kamekona has a .314 batting average this season. She said she was unaffected by playing her former team.
The dearth of offense soured an excellent performance by Bruin pitcher Anjelica Selden (12-2). Selden had thrown 33 and two-thirds scoreless innings before giving up the run in the eighth.
“(Selden) did everything that she could as a pitcher,” Inouye-Perez said. “We should have been on the board earlier. … I expect that the offense will pick up (Thursday).”
The No. 2 Bruins look to bounce back when they play Cal State Northridge at 1 p.m. today in Easton Stadium.