UCLA’s softball team was given a second chance, and it
didn’t hesitate to take it.
Rain postponed Saturday night’s game with Oregon State
after the Bruins fell behind 2-0 in two innings. UCLA then
completed its sweep of the Oregon schools with a pair of victories
over the Beavers in Sunday’s doubleheader. UCLA improves to
43-5 overall and 15-3 in the Pac-10.
“We wanted to get momentum back on our side and show
people that we still wanted it,” senior Tairia Mims said.
“We wanted to get ourselves in a good place for the upcoming
Arizona series and the NCAA play offs. Winning gives you
confidence, and this sweep is going to give us energy heading into
next week.”
Saturday night’s game was supposed to be a hallmark event
““ UCLA’s first-ever night softball game ““ but the
Bruins came out and promptly gave up two unearned runs on five
errors. Mercifully, the game was postponed due to rain and
scheduled to be restarted the following morning.
UCLA head coach Sue Enquist took advantage of the opportunity to
regroup her team.
“It was so ugly,” Enquist said. “We might tend
to minimize the ugliness and say it’s not us, but I said the
opposite. I told them that was us and we had to be accountable for
that. Once we admitted to that, we came in with a brand new day and
started playing Bruin softball.”
Indeed, just as the sun came out, so did the Bruin bats and
gloves. In the first game of the newly formed doubleheader, UCLA
quickly made up the 2-0 deficit with back-to-back solo shots by
Tairia Mims and Claire Sua. It was an omen of things to come: the
Bruins rocked Beaver pitcher Amy Klever for eight more runs as the
game was ended, 10-2, in a mercy-rule six innings.
Additionally, after the UCLA defense gave up five errors in the
first two innings, the remaining four innings were flawless in the
field. In the circle, Keira Goerl gave up two hits and struck out
12.
“We know we can’t keep making those errors if we
want to win,” said Mims, who finished the first game a
perfect 4-for-4. “We were a little frustrated because it was
just taking us more time than we needed. We gave them so many
opportunities. As soon as started playing our game, we got the
win.”
The Bruin bats stayed hot through the second game of the
doubleheader. In the first inning alone, UCLA erupted for six runs
on seven hits, including a pair of two-run home runs by freshmen
Caitlin Benyi and Emily Zaplatosch. Meanwhile, freshman pitcher
Michelle Turner quieted the Oregon State offense, giving up only a
hit in the fourth inning and a home run in the fifth inning.
Leading 8-1 in the bottom of the fifth, and needing a run to end
the game because of the mercy rule, Toria Auelua hit a walk-off
solo shot over the right-center field fence for the 9-1
victory.
“You never want your pitcher to throw extra pitches if she
doesn’t have to,” said Auelua of her home run.
“We were just seeing the ball a lot better today than
Saturday night. We had more energy, and it’s contagious. One
person got a hit, we all got excited and it kept on going down the
line.”
The sweep started with a 4-3 victory over Oregon on Friday
night. UCLA showed off its power with home runs from Mims, Claire
Sua and Stephanie Ramos, while Turner also pitched a complete game.
The game had a measure of vengeance, as the Ducks had defeated the
Bruins 5-4 earlier in the season.