UCLA softball settles in for the postseason after a regular season in which the Bruins switched lineups, moved players around and made a general mess of a lot of scorecards.
No. 7 seed UCLA (48-10) used 11 players, just two over the minimum, to pull off their three-game NCAA Regional sweep, and – most notably – the Bruins only used one pitcher.
Shortly after being declared Pac-12 Player of the Year for the second straight season, senior Ally Carda pitched every inning of the NCAA Regional. In 18 innings of work, Carda allowed two runs on 12 hits.
“They’re very dialed in, and I’m excited to see what’s next,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “They’re doing a great job, as you can see, they kind of have short-term memory.”
That short-term memory could come in handy, as the more distant memories are the more disappointing ones.
Carda’s performance in this year’s NCAA Regional was similar to last year’s. In the 2014 NCAA Regional, Carda pitched 12.1 scoreless innings, but gave up 11 earned runs in the Super Regional against Kentucky the following weekend, ultimately leading to the end of UCLA’s season.
“(Assistant coach) Lisa (Fernandez) and (Inouye-Perez) always keep putting in my head, ‘Fight. Be tough. Stay tough. No matter what inning, what pitch, you gotta stay in it. One pitch at a time, and just be tough out there through seven innings,'” Carda said.
Carda had to stay in it “one pitch at a time” a whopping 284 times this past weekend. As tough as Carda can be, she said she’s also taken steps to make sure she can stay healthy as her workload increases.
“Physically, we do have to take care of our bodies,” Carda said. “We do our massages, our ice baths, and try and get as much juice in our legs as we can. I think I did a good job of taking care of myself this weekend, and I felt pretty good for day three.”
During the regular season, Inouye-Perez said she also worked with freshman pitchers Selina Ta’amilo and Johanna Grauer, and the two had some success. They finished seventh and eighth in ERA in the Pac-12 respectively. Nonetheless, Inouye-Perez stuck with her ace and her ace’s longtime battery mate – senior catcher Stephany LaRosa.
The two have developed a strong rapport. They combined for two standout 2-1 putouts on passed balls this past weekend, and have developed a habit of meeting midgame, unprompted by coaches.
“Whenever I feel I need to talk to Ally or just kinda slow the game down a little bit, I’ll call time-out and go up there and kinda talk to Ally, just to slow the game down,” LaRosa said.
These two team leaders enter what could be their final series together this weekend against No. 10 seed Missouri (42-14). The series will be a best-of-three format, with game one coming Saturday at 5 p.m. and game two coming Sunday at noon. If a deciding third game is necessary, it will occur right after game two ends on Sunday afternoon.