And so the beat goes on.
After emerging from their Pac-10 home-opening series on the wrong end of a deflating sweep, the Bruins hit the Oregon trail last weekend and revived their season pulse, sweeping the three-game series against Oregon State.
Starting today, the No. 6 UCLA softball team (30-9, 4-5 Pac-10) will look to keep the rhythm going on the road against No. 10 Stanford (30-9, 4-5) in game one of a series that continues on Saturday and Sunday.
It’s hard to believe, but the Bruins are already nearing the end of the regular season. Yet despite the ups and the downs, and with just 12 games left before the start of the postseason, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez likes where her team has positioned itself at this stage in the season.
“We’ve had some very powerful outings when we’re behind or when we’re ahead,” she said. “Offensively, this team has done some outstanding things and shown that it has the ability to truly ignite and be contagious. The outcome of the game may not always reflect what our goal is going into a game, but for us, we’re not focused on the outcome. We’re focused on our ability to prepare and execute, and I think this team has done exactly that.”
Preparation and execution will indeed be the points of emphasis this weekend, as UCLA goes up against a Stanford team that figures to give the Bruins as much fight as they can handle.
Last season, Stanford rallied around ace pitcher Missy Penna, the program’s all-time leader in strikeouts, shutouts and wins. But after having lost Penna to graduation, the Cardinal quickly rebuilt its pitching staff around burgeoning ace Teagan Gerhart, the younger sister of Heisman Trophy finalist Toby Gerhart.
The Cardinal pitcher is 22-6 with a 1.67 ERA and 171 strikeouts in 181 and a third innings, all impressive numbers, but the Bruins will seek to take advantage of a first-year hurler.
“The plan is definitely to be aggressive against her,” sophomore left fielder Andrea Harrison said. “She’s facing the UCLA Bruins, so she’ll definitely have that in the back of her mind. As a hitter, I’m going to get in the (batter’s) box knowing she doesn’t want to pitch to me.”
In the other bullpen, the Bruins will welcome back a weapon of their own.
Last Friday, senior pitcher Megan Langenfeld made her first appearance in the circle since March 26, pitching two scoreless innings in relief.
Langenfeld had been hampered by a right elbow injury that had limited the versatile player to manning just first base, but she now appears ready to re-establish her presence in the circle.
“It was nice just to get back out there (last Friday), even though it was not a lot of innings,” she said. “But it was good to get back into the swing of things. I should be good to go.”