The stage was set for disappointment in UCLA’s fourth game of the Long Beach State Invitational.
The Bruins were down 3-1 against the UNLV Rebels in the top of the seventh inning with runners on second and third and nobody out.
Through the first 26 innings of the tournament, the Bruins had struggled to score runs as they left 29 runners on base and momentum suggested they were about to do it again.
But up stepped senior outfielder B.B. Bates to the plate and she came through by doubling to left-center to tie up the game.
A few batters later, freshman catcher/infielder Brittany Moeai finally bucked the team’s weekend-long trend by singling to right field to knock in what would be the game-winning run.
“I think we pulled through as a team the last inning, we’re pretty good at that. It’s all about mounting back and I feel like we all bounced back as a team,” Moeai said. “We just kept (fighting) every inning of the game.”
The team finished off its tournament schedule for this season by going 4-1 this weekend and 22-4 for the year.
After dropping the first game of the tournament to No. 23 Virginia Tech on Friday, No. 9 UCLA battled to win two close games against Long Beach State and South Alabama on Friday and Saturday.
In the second game on Sunday, the Bruins’ offensive breakthrough carried over as they exploded for 10 runs in the first inning en route to a mercy-rule victory over Charleston Southern.
Junior pitcher Jessica Hall threw the 103rd no-hitter in UCLA softball history, and the first of her career, in the 10-0 win.
With the offense struggling to cash in runs for most of the weekend, the Bruin pitchers said they had to really be on their game in order to give the team a chance to win.
“I try and stay calm … but it pushes me to throw better each inning and just get back in the dugout as quick as possible, so that we can try and get more runs each inning,” said sophomore pitcher Ally Carda.
After their last non-conference midweek game against North Dakota State on Tuesday, the Bruins will use the nine days of rest before the start of Pac-12 conference play to get healthy and ready for the tougher opposition.
“Once we get some rest, we got to rev it back up and get ready to start Pac-12 (play), but we’re not there yet. We’re really looking to finish strong,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez.
“(After Tuesday) we’ll take a real big break, get everybody back to (being) healthy and get going again, getting ready for conference.”