Entering the season with high expectations and a No. 7 national ranking, the UCLA softball team got coach Kelly Inouye-Perez’s 10th year off to a milestone start.
Inouye-Perez surpassed the 400-win mark in her career as the Bruins won four of their five games at the Aggie Classic in College Station, Texas. With a pair of wins against Colorado State bookending victories over Wichita State and Texas A&M, Inouye-Perez was pleased with her squad’s early performance.
“Walking out of Texas with four wins is exactly what we wanted to do. We had some great moments this weekend that are going to be really helpful moving forward,” Inouye-Perez said, noting the defensive play of junior shortstop Delaney Spaulding and the impressive power display by junior third-baseman Mysha Sataraka.
UCLA kicked off its 2016 campaign with a come-from-behind win over Colorado State on Friday, but was not as successful in the second game of the opening day doubleheader, falling 5-1 to Texas A&M as the Aggies’ sophomore pitcher Trinity Harrington out-dueled UCLA’s Johanna Grauer. The Bruins then reeled off three straight victories, including a 7-3 win over A&M, in which sophomore pitcher Selina Ta’amilo gave up only one earned run through seven innings.
“All her pitches were working,” Inouye-Perez said. “She had some big strikeouts and put the ball in play. She did a phenomenal job against a great offensive team.”
Ta’amilo started and won three games for UCLA during the weekend, racking up 16 strikeouts and sporting a 1.53 ERA.
“It’s really good just knowing that we’re all coming together. It shows we have a bright future ahead,” Ta’amilo said, who, along with fellow sophomore Grauer, is expected to lead the Bruins’ pitching staff this year.
UCLA had a solid showing in the field as well, making only three errors during the tournament.
“I like our versatility and athleticism,” Inouye-Perez said. “We had a lot of great things happening this weekend, both offensively and defensively.”
The balanced attack allowed the Bruins’ lineup to outscore their opponents 28-21 over the course of the tournament. Five Bruins each had multi-RBI games, with Sataraka driving in a total of 10 runs and batting .615.
“All of us try to ‘be the one,’ that’s our motto,” said Sataraka. “You always try to be the person that gets it done.”
Sataraka was certainly “the one” for UCLA in College Station, plating five of the Bruins’ six runs against Wichita State on Saturday, including a three-run home run in the third inning and a double in the fifth that proved to be the eventual game-winner. She came up big again later that day with another home run, this time against the Aggies, contributing to the Bruins’ third victory of the tournament.
“It’s just the confidence that the team and coaches put in me,” Sataraka said. “We set high standards for ourselves, so we’re always working toward a goal.”
The Bruins now look to the next two weeks at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic I in Cathedral City, California, where they will be competing against six teams currently ranked in USA Today’s Top 25, including No. 1 Florida, No. 3 LSU and No. 9 Oklahoma.