The UCLA softball team has a postgame tradition, and it remains the same regardless of the outcome of the game.
After each UCLA softball game, whether it be a win or a loss, the team always comes together for a postgame meeting. While some parts of this meeting may change, one part always remains the same.
“We go around and everyone will kind of give a shout-out to someone else,” said junior pitcher Ally Carda.
In softball, it is commonplace for the players to compliment the teammate that hit the big home run, or the one that made the game-saving defensive play. But the Bruins’ postgame shout-outs tend to look a little bit deeper.
“There’s always kind of the obvious – you know, when someone hits a home run,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “We just focus on the little things … that make a big difference.”
Inouye-Perez noted that some of these “little things” include a batter who battles back from being down in the count 0-2 to even the count at 2-2, or a pitcher who comes back and gets an out after giving up a base hit. A teammate who starts a chant in the dugout also tends to receive a “shout-out.”
And the compliments aren’t limited to the players, either. Inouye-Perez noted that the players commend coaches for making appropriate defensive shifts, or pitch calls.
“We try and just have each other’s back a lot,” Carda said.
Even after UCLA’s walk-off win vs. then-No. 6 Arizona on March 16, senior pitcher Jessica Hall said that the team didn’t focus solely on the Bruins’ walk-off grand slam, but rather on “something that led up to that big clutch moment.”
This past weekend, it would have seemed appropriate to commend utility player Stephany LaRosa, who was awarded Pac-12 player of the week. But Inouye-Perez said that the Bruins’ postgame compliments focused on one of LaRosa’s at-bats that neither resulted in a hit or an RBI.
LaRosa’s sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning of Sunday’s game against Utah was the center of attention. The bunt came when UCLA was trailing Utah 1-0 with a runner on first base.
“You know Steph LaRosa is leading our team in power numbers, but she put the (sacrifice) bunt down and that’s big,” Inouye-Perez said.
Freshman infielder Delaney Spaulding would advance to second base on LaRosa’s sacrifice, and eventually score to tie the game at one apiece.
Altogether, the little contributions and post-game compliments have been part of the formula that has added up to UCLA’s 33-2 record, and No. 1 overall ranking.
“It just builds a very powerful, strong culture from within to notice those little things once again that make a big difference,” Inouye-Perez said.