The Bruins just couldn’t stay inside this weekend.
With bursts of home runs and solid pitching, the UCLA softball team won its three games of the NCAA regionals in front of its home crowd at Easton Stadium.
The No. 5 seed Bruins hit 11 home runs in their weekend wins against St. Mary’s, San Diego State and Fresno State, but junior second baseman GiOnna DiSalvatore said the Bruins aren’t looking to go deep.
“We’re not trying to hit home runs,” DiSalvatore said. “We just see the ball, hit the ball.”
On Sunday, in the Bruins’ 7-2 win over the Bulldogs, the team continued getting hits when they needed to, and advanced to the super regionals with their win over the Bulldogs.
Fresno State opened up the game with a home run of their own in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore Michelle Moses, who pitched for the Bulldogs Sunday, hit a two-run shot off sophomore Aleah Macon, which turned out to be the only points the team would score. For the game, Macon gave up six hits and three walks, and struck out 12 in seven innings, improving her record to 10-1.
Sophomore right fielder Samantha Camuso wasted no time when she stepped up to the plate in the top of the second, hitting a two-run home run on the first pitch she saw to tie the game at 2. Moses was able to keep the Bruin bats fairly quiet for the next three innings.
In the sixth, the Bruins pulled away. DiSalvatore hit a single and scored freshman outfielder Devon Lindvall. Lindvall was running for Camuso, who had drawn a walk earlier. Junior Monica Harrison then put the game out of reach with a three-run blast to give the Bruins a 6-2 lead.
“We just decided that we were going to score that inning,” Harrison said. “We didn’t care how, or what it took.”
Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez agreed, and said her players showcased their ability to pick each other up in the sixth.
“They lead each other, and it’s very powerful,” Inouye-Perez said. “They made a decision, and they’ve done that more than once throughout this season … it comes from within. There’s a belief that they can do anything.”
Senior third baseman Julie Burney added another homer in the top of the seventh to tack on the Bruins’ seventh run.
On Saturday, senior first baseman Megan Langenfeld hit two home runs, and Camuso added another one before sophomore left fielder Andrea Harrison hit a walk-off single to the give the Bruins a 4-3 win over San Diego State.
Friday’s win over St. Mary’s featured five home runs. Sophomore first baseman Dani Yudin hit two, and DiSalvatore, Camuso and senior catcher Kaila Shull added homers of their own in the team’s 11-4 victory. The Bruins now take on Louisiana-Lafayette in the super regionals starting Friday.
“Right now we’re playing the game, that’s our opponent,” Inouye-Perez said. “We’ve got to swing at strikes, we’ve got to be able to play catch, and hope for some timely hitting.”
With reports by Min Kang, Bruin Sports reporter.