It wasn’t a typical night for UCLA’s softball team, but it sure was a successful one.
The Bruins honored nine seniors on Sunday prior to their contest against the No. 16 Wildcats on a chilly night that featured a nearly sold-out crowd, filled with many blue-and-gold faithful hoping to see UCLA complete a sweep of Arizona.
The Bruins, playing under the bright lights of Easton Stadium as they near the end of Pac-12 play and the start of NCAA regionals, seized that opportunity to tame the Wildcats, winning by a final score of 15-7 in five and half innings.
With the sweep, UCLA extended its winning streak to a 13 games.
After the Bruins last lost to the Pac-12-leading Oregon Ducks, UCLA has taken full responsibility for its performance and has steam rolled through Pac-12 play since.
“We weren’t satisfied with the results of the Oregon weekend, and they made a decision,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “From that point on, you’ve seen a really resilient team. They’ve been fighting. They’ve been determined. They’re just clearly on a mission to play their game.”
UCLA continued its string of successes this weekend, leaving no doubt that it is capable of playing tough opponents.
Like any good team, the Bruins took advantage of every opportunity they got.
On the mound, UCLA pitchers did their part, containing an Arizona team that featured the highest batting average in the nation.
One of those pitchers, senior Ally Carda, pitched in all three games of the series. Her final time out on the mound at home got off to a rough start. In the top of the fourth inning, she surrendered a game-tying grand slam that erased a five-run cushion that the Bruins built early on in the contest.
“It’s rough facing a team three times regardless, so to come out against such great hitters, its always tough,” said Carda. “(It was) not my first time pitching three times in a row.”
However, the senior managed to recover and redeem herself in the batters box.
In the bottom half of the inning, Carda stepped in with two runners on after the Bruins regained the lead with two runs of their own. Shortly after, she launched a towering homer that easily cleared the left field wall, giving the Bruins their five-run lead back.
It was a sign of the fight the Bruins had and the amount of growth the team has experienced over the course of the season.
“They play the game literally one inning at a time, and I’m really proud that the game came back around to Ally. She got put in a situation that wasn’t hers,” Inouye-Perez said. “She got an opportunity and capitalized with one of her biggest moments at UCLA.”
At the end of the night, the Bruins found themselves scoring in every inning of the ball game, slugging their way to 15 runs. Another Bruin that has contributed her fair share of long balls and runs to the team is sophomore infielder Delaney Spaulding. Spaulding, who leads the team in home runs, launched her 15th of the season in the final contest.
The sophomore was aggressive at the plate and had a plan going into her plate appearances.
“We had faced (Arizona pitcher Trish Parks) a couple nights before, so I kind of knew her style of pitching,” Spaulding said. “She likes to get ahead of batters, so I was just going in, swinging at the first pitch. If it’s there, I hit it as hard as I can.”
For the next few days, UCLA will have a chance to prepare for its next series at Arizona State to cap off the regular season. The Bruins said they look to continue their success as a team and take each game, pitch and at bat with pride just as their coach has continually preached.
“We have phenomenal athletes in this program,” Inouye-Perez said. “They can hit, they can bunt, they have speed, they have power. It’s a part of our game. It’s very difficult to defend against and a big part of our success is that we can drop it on the short game and hit it long over the fence. Those are the things that great teams have.”