UCLA softball is in for a long weekend. Today through Sunday, the No. 12 Bruins (11-5) will host the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament that brings in teams from Florida, Long Beach and Illinois.
Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez thinks her team is prepared for the weekend.
“It’s very simple,” Inouye-Perez said of the team’s preparation. “We’re focusing on our own game. We want to work toward consistency; that’s the key.”
Consistency has been a problem for the first-year coach’s team: The Bruins are just 1-3 against ranked opponents and 10-2 against the rest of the field.
Additionally, the margin of victory is skewed: The team has 10 wins by three or more runs, six of those by eight or more (with an eight-run lead after five innings, the game is ended). Losses are either by one run or more than five.
Loyola Marymount took the initiative Tuesday, pressing aggressively against the Bruin lineup. Despite that shaky start, Inouye-Perez remains hopeful about the weekend.
“(This weekend), we have some good opportunities to get into a rhythm,” she said. “We’ve got a home crowd and a comfort zone in playing where we practice. We want to play our own game and take it one pitch at a time.”
The most unknown opponent of the weekend will be Loyola Chicago, whose first game of the season will come against UCLA on Saturday.
The Bruins will play Long Beach State (4-10) and No. 25 Illinois State (11-4) this afternoon, Loyola Chicago and No. 17 Florida (16-5) on Saturday morning, and Loyola Chicago again on Sunday.
Last year, the Bruins swept their home tournament. Then-senior Andrea Duran hit safely for eight consecutive at bats, and the Bruins scored eight runs or more in each of their six wins.
BATTER’S EYE: One area of great success this year for UCLA has been patience at the plate: The Bruins have 54 walks in 16 games.
“Our goal against good pitching is (pitch) discrepancy. That can be a difference for us in the end,” Inouye-Perez said of her team’s pitch selection.
The Bruins drew seven walks against Loyola Marymount on Tuesday.
HERRERA WALKING: Senior third baseman Ashley Herrera was in the dugout for Tuesday’s game against Loyola Marymount, but not in uniform. She walked gingerly out to the third baseline when her name was announced.
Herrera tore her left ACL against Texas after notching the Bruins’ first hit of the 2007 season in that game. Her surgery was scheduled for today but has been postponed until March 9.