After spending two consecutive weekends on the road, the UCLA softball team returns to Easton Stadium for its first official midweek game of the season.
UCLA technically played a midweek game last Tuesday against the Japanese professional team, Toyota, but it was an exhibition game.
Still, the experience allowed the team to get a little taste of the midweek environment that practice cannot provide.
“Usually we just have a practice, but game-like (situations) are always going to help you out a little bit more than practice is,” said freshman pitcher Paige McDuffee. “It was cool to get some live hitting and live pitching in.”
In this week’s midweek matchup, the No. 13 Bruins (13-1) will face Cal State Fullerton (5-8) for the first and only time this year.
Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said she wants to see how her team is able to handle the contrasting settings of being in a tournament versus playing a midweek game at home.
“When you’re in the tournament, you got a great environment with a lot of people watching and the crowd is big. Midweeks are difficult in that they are a whole different atmosphere,” Inouye-Perez said.
“Your body has to go through a five-game weekend and you have to get back out and focus on that midweek (game). I’m looking forward to our first opportunity for the girls to really lockdown and figure out how to compete knowing that the crowd’s not going to be really big on Tuesday.”
The Bruins are currently on a 10-game win streak, fueled by strong pitching and defense.
“We call it our train, and we’re going to keep rolling,” McDuffee said. “We’re going to keep the momentum and just bring our energy again.”
The Bruins’ bats started to spark some momentum in their final game on Sunday, and they will look for that to continue against the Titans.
“Coach always teaches us to let go of this game and worry about the next one, so I think we’ll be fine carrying (the offensive firepower) to the next one,” said senior outfielder B.B. Bates.
Aside from this game being their first midweek matchup of the season, Bates said one of the biggest challenges for the Bruins will be having to come straight from class and be ready to play a softball game.
“(The key to victory will be) just playing our game, just doing what we do best, and staying within ourselves, not making it bigger than what it needs to be,” Bates said. “That’s what our mindset should be.”