It was a rough start to the Kelly Inouye-Perez era in UCLA softball.
Friday saw the start of the Arizona-based Kajiwara Classic, with the No. 3 Bruins (2-3) losing a 1-0 heartbreaker to No. 17 Texas (4-1). The team rebounded with a 14-6 squashing of Syracuse (0-4). Saturday was worse, with coach Inouye-Perez’s team falling 5-4 to No. 13 Texas A&M (5-0) and then suffering an error-filled, 14-1, five-inning blowout by New Mexico (1-4).
While Sunday’s game was a wet one, the Bruins tore apart Nevada (0-5) 9-1 in five innings to salvage the rest of the tournament.
“I felt we came into the weekend feeling prepared,” Inouye-Perez said. “But we fell short on offense and defense and weren’t prepared mentally. Each game had a different issue. Some of them were out of our control.”
Inouye-Perez was speaking of senior Ashley Herrera, who got the Bruins first and only hit in the Texas game and injured her left knee running to first.
Texas and UCLA last met in the 2006 Women’s College World Series. Friday’s game saw the end of a notable winning streak as well, with the Bruins losing their first opener since 1994.
“I felt like we were prepared for (Texas),” senior shortstop Jodie Legaspi said. “Emotionally prepared, but there’s always an unknown when you go into your first tournament.”
Vengeance was quick for the Bruins, triumphing over Syracuse.
Texas A&M proved another battle, the Bruins rallying from early 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to tie the game in the third inning, 4-4. But in the fourth, the Aggies scraped out just enough to score.Junior Anjelica Selden only allowed one earned run in the contest and finished the weekend with 15 strikeouts.
Then came New Mexico.
“We just wanted to stay with the game plan (for New Mexico), but I didn’t make the adjustments I needed to,” freshman pitcher Megan Langenfeld said, who started against New Mexico.
Errors certainly didn’t help the cause. The Bruins committed nine over the weekend, with six in Saturday’s embarrassment. Additionally, it was UCLA’s first mercy-rule loss since 2000, and its worst loss since 1998, a 16-3 debacle against Arizona.
Sunday’s game was better. In the bottom of the fourth, with the score 6-1 in favor of the Bruins from previous rallies and a pair of home runs by senior Jaisa Creps and freshman Julie Burney, the floodgates opened and drowned play for a few minutes.
After retaking the field, Legaspi knocked a three-run roundtripper to seal the Wolf Pack’s fate. The senior shortstop had nothing but praise for her teammates, especially the freshmen.
“With Julie Burney’s home run, (we had) three home runs. That really opened the door for our offense,” she said. “It was a great experience for the younger (players) to get out there and learn from this weekend.”