The 13th-ranked UCLA Bruins broke tradition this weekend
and opened their 2014 softball season away from home in Honolulu at
the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic.
This change-up clearly did not faze the Bruins, as they returned
home as champions.
UCLA junior pitcher Ally Carda said “aloha” to the 2014 season – and goodbye to Delaware –by pitching her first career no-hitter in the season
opener against the Delaware Blue Hens.
Carda pitched the 105th no-hitter in UCLA softball history, beating the Blue Hens by mercy rule in the top of the fifth inning, 10-0. Carda threw six strikeouts against Delaware and is now the sixth
UCLA pitcher to have opened a season with a no-hitter.
After pitching a 4-1 victory in the championship game against
Hawai’i, Carda reflected on her no-hitter in Game 1 against Delaware.
Carda said she took it “pitch by pitch,” and is excited for her new catcher
matchup, junior Stephany LaRosa.
“It
was exciting. It was cool to have Stephany LaRosa catching me,” said Carda. “It
was (LaRosa’s) first debut as a catcher, too, so for her to catch a no-hitter
her first time was pretty awesome.”
Carda
applied the off-speed pitch she has been working on to her pitching over the
weekend.
Carda
said her new pitch, which is slower than her regular curve but not as slow as
her change-up, “brought a little more dynamic to (her game) and kept the hitters
off balance.”
Three out of the Bruins’ five games were complete shutouts: two
by senior pitcher Jessica Hall and one by Carda.
After winning the championship, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said
that the coaching staff had “really prepared this defense” and that
they really take pride in them.
“We all know defense wins championships,” said Inouye-Perez.
In
the championship game, the Rainbow Wahine cracked Carda’s streak and scored one
against the tournament’s most valuable pitcher.
The host Rainbow Wahine was the only team to score against the Bruins. Hawaii scored a total of three
runs against UCLA – two in game three and one in the championship game.
The
Bruins breezed through the first through fourth games, but that was not the case in the
championship.
The first run to have gotten past Carda this season allowed the Rainbow Wahine to tie up with the Bruins, 1-1, in the top of the fourth inning of the championship.
It
became clear that this would not be an easy “W” for the Bruins. In
the bottom of the fifth, freshman Delaney Spaulding hit a single that
plated a Bruin and gained a 2-1 lead.
With two outs against the Bruins, senior outfielder Alyssa Tiumalu,who homered earlier in the tournament, stepped up to the plate.
“In
that moment, I was just trying to touch the ball. I hadn’t done anything my
first two at-bats,” said Tiumalu.
Tiumalu
delivered a clutch two-run single that brought the score to 4-1, giving the Bruins breathing space.
After
the win, Tiumalu was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
“The
girls did amazing,” Inouye-Perez said. “They showed up, they represented
and got a great outcome. I think it’s a great sign of things to come.”
The Bruins will enter their first home game with a 5-0 record on the season. UCLA will face UC Davis at home Friday for the first game of the Stacy Winsberg
Memorial Tournament.