Softball shuts out Ole Miss, Fresno State with help of freshman’s first no-hitter

The Bruins witnessed history Saturday night.

No. 1 UCLA softball (7-0) shut out Ole Miss and Fresno State to start the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament at Easton Stadium, with freshman pitcher Megan Faraimo throwing her first career no-hitter against the Bulldogs in the Bruins’ third mercy-rule victory of the 2019 season.

“I couldn’t be happier that I got to spend it with some of the greatest teammates that I’ve ever had,” Faraimo said. “I was really in my own zone and didn’t realize it until afterwards that I threw a no-hitter. I was working with my catcher (senior Taylor Pack) tonight and she did a great job behind the plate, so I have to give it up to her.”

Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said she was proud of Faraimo and that she will lessen the pitching burden on redshirt junior pitcher Rachel Garcia and sophomore pitcher Holly Azevedo throughout the season.

“There’s a reason that she was Gatorade Player of the Year,” Inouye-Perez said. “Tonight was her defining moment – she lost the game in the first inning, but came back and found a way to get a no-hitter, which is huge as a freshman.”

The Bruins scored eight runs against the Bulldogs in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, with senior utility Zoe Shaw opening up the offense with a full-count 2-RBI triple in the second inning.

“I tried to work the count a little more,” Shaw said. “I was battling in that 3-2 situation, but all I wanted was just a base hit to move the runners or score them.”

UCLA started its Saturday against Ole Miss, where pitcher Brittany Finney held the high-scoring Bruins to two runs after five innings. Garcia went on to earn her third win of the season, pitching seven full innings with 13 strikeouts and allowing six hits. Junior utility Bubba Nickles, who later batted in two runs against Fresno State, was responsible for the game’s only RBI.

Inouye-Perez said she was especially proud of the team’s defensive performance against Ole Miss and said how her team must be strong both offensively and defensively if they want to vie for a national championship.

“Back in the day, defense won championships,” Inouye-Perez said. “We knew that Ole Miss was going to be a scrappy opponent and the game showed that. Ole Miss is a very competitive and aggressive program … so I’m very proud of the way we played and how we executed on defense.”

Shaw further emphasized the importance of having strong communication from a defensive perspective.

“Even with me being in right field, I’m feeling connected all the way across the field to the third baseman,” Shaw said. “Continuously having that communication makes things work really smoothly.”

UCLA will look to continue their seven-game win streak on Sunday, first hosting UC Riverside before facing Loyola Marymount to end the tournament.

Women’s water polo prevails over persistent Anteaters in overtime

Following their first loss of the season, the Bruins were tested at home by a familiar foe.

No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (14-1) beat No. 7 UC Irvine (5-4) 13-10 in overtime Saturday for its third win over the Anteaters this year.

The Bruins blew a three-goal lead in the second half. With both teams failing to score in the last minute of regulation, the game went to overtime. UCLA outscored UCI 3-0 in its first overtime game of the year to pull off the win.

Freshman center Ava Johnson said the Bruins might have been overlooking the Anteaters after their earlier victories this year.

“I think (we underestimated them),” Johnson said. “We played them at the Triton Invitational and beat them 11-6 and we came out super strong and did what we needed to do. Today we didn’t follow through on what our plan was and we had to battle until the end.”

The Bruins started out with a 4-1 lead in the first quarter, but the lead started to disappear when the Anteaters defended with a full press to cash in with goals after forcing two quick turnovers before the half.

“We can’t think that because we go up 4-1 that it’s done or when we’re tired, we don’t have to do the little things right,” said coach Adam Wright. “Because right here shows that if you don’t do the little things right, it’s always going to be tough.”

The two teams went back and forth in the second half, but UCLA took a 10-9 lead after junior attacker Maddie Musselman stole the ball and scored a counterattack goal. However, the Anteaters scored 28 seconds later to send the game into overtime.

Junior attacker Bronte Halligan said Wright told the team to put it on themselves to take back the game and secure the home victory.

“It’s all about us,” Halligan said. “It’s not on him, it’s not on anyone else to do anything for us right now. It’s not on him to call plays. We can’t rely on anyone but us. It’s on us to dig deep and just show some competitiveness.”

After the loss to rival No. 1 USC (13-0) and the close game against UCI, Wright said the team’s inconsistency is holding it back from being at its peak.

“We can start the game well, and in a couple of minutes, we’re very inconsistent,” Wright said. “You can’t do that against good teams. We’re trying to build depth, but at the same time, it takes a different mindset and mentality than we have right now. Until we learn those things, we can’t arrive to be the team we want to be.”

UCLA men’s basketball fails to cut down Cardinal lead in 104-80 romp by Stanford

It’s safe to assume the Bruins would have liked that broken rim delay to last a little longer.

UCLA men’s basketball (13-13, 6-7 Pac-12) entered the second half down just nine. But after a 35-minute delay to fix a loose rim before play started back up, Stanford (14-11, 7-6) opened up the frame with a 15-3 run to bury UCLA en route to a 104-80 victory.

With 14:46 left in the second half, Cardinal guard Daejon Davis lofted an alley-oop to forward KZ Okpala off an inbound to make it a 21-point game.

On the ensuing possession, sophomore guard Kris Wilkes airballed a corner 3. Eight and a half minutes later, redshirt freshman Cody Riley airballed a free throw, but the referees didn’t even bother blowing the whistle.

And with 4:51 left, redshirt junior guard Prince Ali airballed a wide-open transition 3 that would have made it a nine-point game again.

When the Bruins did cut the lead to single digits 30 seconds later, the Cardinal put together a 12-point run.

UCLA’s primary backcourt in the second half – sophomore guard Jaylen Hands and freshman guard Jules Bernard – combined for 48 points, seven rebounds and five steals on 14-of-21 shooting from the field, 4-of-8 from deep and 16-of-18 from the charity stripe.

Hands led all scorers with a career-high 29 points after he scored 27 in UCLA’s loss to Utah on Feb. 9, while Bernard registered a career-high 19 points and 27 minutes off the bench.

Freshman center Moses Brown has been the tallest player on the court for the majority of conference play, but Stanford boasted a 7-footer of its own Saturday night.

Cardinal center Josh Sharma picked up 22 points and 12 rebounds on 10-of-11 shooting. Brown – who entered the game shooting 65 percent from the field – picked up just seven points on 2-of-8 shooting.

The former five-star recruit had just two dunks for UCLA, while his counterpart flushed it seven times.

Wilkes finished with single-digit points for just the second time this season, scoring a season-low seven points on 2-of-11 shooting. The sophomore left the game in the first half after taking a Sharma elbow to the face, but he was able to return before halftime.

The Bruins’ defensive performance was their worst of the season, allowing a season-high 104 points to the same team they held to 70 points in interim coach Murry Bartow’s first game as head coach.

Baseball delivers shutout performance in second game against St. John’s

The Bruins had a low scoring, come-from-behind victory Friday night, but they won in a much different fashion Saturday.

No. 5 UCLA baseball (2-0) clinched the series victory with a 9-0 victory over St. John’s (0-2) at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Redshirt junior right-hander Jack Ralston got the start for the Bruins and threw six scoreless innings with a career-high-tying seven strikeouts. Ralston allowed three hits and a walk in the shutout victory.

“Mixing pitches, staying in the zone and pounding the glove were the biggest keys today,” Ralston said, when asked about his approach on the mound.

The Bruins are temporarily without their ace, junior right-hander Ryan Garcia, due to a flexor injury. Instead, sophomore right-hander Zach Pettway got the nod Friday and Ralston was pushed up to Saturday.

“(Ralston) looked like a Saturday guy,” coach John Savage said. “He’s a different guy right now. He’s throwing harder, so his stuff is better, and he’s throwing more strikes.”

The Bruins’ defense made big plays behind Ralston to keep the Red Storm off the board. The first inning ended with a strike-them-out, throw-them-out by freshman catcher Noah Cardenas in his first collegiate start. With runners on the corners and one out in the second, the Bruins turned a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the inning.

Ralston came back in the third inning to strike out the side, and St. John’s produced one hit and one walk for the remainder of the contest.

“I was the same guy the whole time,” Ralston said. “Using my defense was one of the main things and I kept building off that.”

Redshirt senior right-hander Nate Hadley, sophomore right-hander Michael Townsend and freshman right-hander Nick Nastrini each threw an inning of relief, allowing no hits or runs.

On the offensive side, the Bruins manufactured nine runs, with eight of them coming in two innings.

After the Bruins’ top-three batters went down in order to start the game, they exploded for four runs in the bottom of the second. Freshman center fielder Matt McLain ignited the rally with a triple off the center field wall, bringing home junior first baseman Michael Toglia from first.

Four of the next five batters got hits, including junior third baseman Ryan Kreidler who slapped an RBI triple of his own to right field. Kreidler attributed the team’s offensive success to its consistent approach at the plate.

“When Bruin after Bruin goes up there and has the same approach and same mentality of trying to get the job done and score some runs, that’s when the results speak for themselves,” Kreidler said.

After an RBI single by junior left fielder Jeremy Ydens in the sixth inning brought the UCLA lead to five, the Bruins again put up for runs in the seventh inning.

All four runs came with the bases loaded as a result of a walk, hit by pitch, infield single and walk.

“We strung out at bats together better in (the second and seventh) innings,” Kreidler said. “It’s all about stringing them together because guys can’t do it by themselves.”

The Bruins will have the opportunity to start the 2019 season with a sweep against the Red Storm on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Men’s basketball forfeits early lead to Stanford, lagging 9 points at the half

Three and a half minutes in, the UCLA-Stanford matchup looked a lot like it did when the Bruins won by 22 on Jan. 3.

Fast-forward seven minutes, and the Cardinal used a 22-point swing to flip the script.

UCLA men’s basketball (13-12, 6-6 Pac-12) trails Stanford (13-11, 6-6) at halftime 49-40. Sophomore guard Jaylen Hands leads the Bruins with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go along with three assists and two triples.

Hands scored or assisted on 23 of UCLA’s first 32 points.

The two teams traded threes in the middle of the first frame, with the Bruins and Cardinal combining for six 3s over a four-minute stretch.

Sophomore guard Kris Wilkes took an elbow to the face from 7-foot, 230 pound center Josh Sharma with 17:41 on the clock, sending him to the locker room. He would later return to the game and score five points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field.

UCLA – which ranks a Power-Five-worst 344th in the country in free throw percentage – was a perfect 9-of-9 before freshman center Moses Brown missed the team’s lone attempt with 1:27 remaining in the half.

Both teams continued their turnover-prone ways, combining for 13 in the first half.

Gymnastics becomes third team in country to cross 198 points as it beats Arizona

The Bruins have hit the “big 198.”

No. 3 UCLA gymnastics (6-0, 5-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 25 Arizona (1-5, 1-4) in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday 198.025-194.975, marking the Bruins’ highest score of the season. For the second time in six days, junior Kyla Ross scored a perfect 10 on vault and senior Katelyn Ohashi scored a perfect 10 on floor exercise.

“I think (scoring 198.025) says a lot considering that we didn’t have a flawless meet,” said coach Valorie Kondos Field. “We should be scoring a mid-198 every single time. We have trained like that, they have prepared to do just that. They just need to believe it.”

Ross’ perfect score on vault was among three other scores over 9.925 that earned her an all-around score of 39.850 − an increase of 0.075 on her previous personal best set last weekend. Ross owns the highest all-around score recorded by an NCAA athlete this year and the fourth highest all-around score in UCLA gymnastics history.

“I was hoping for a 40,” Ross said. “But I’m really happy with the 39.850. Bars and beam were my strengths last year and I’ve been trying to bring up vault and floor routines. So, to see those two do so well this year is amazing.”

Ross is the only gymnast in the country to score a 10 on multiple events this season. The junior is one perfect score on floor away from a “gym slam” − recording a 10 on all four events. Ross posted a 9.950 on floor Saturday.

“I really thought I had it today,” Ross said. “It was just that last pass.”

Ohashi scored her first at-home perfect 10 of the year on her viral floor routine. It was her third perfect score this season. Ohashi has earned first place on floor in all six of her competitions this year.

Ohashi said that performing in front of her home crowd changes her experience.

“I feed off of energy,” Ohashi said. “It’s so funny. On floor, I really do hear a lot. I can always hear them get quiet on the snappy parts and loud at other times. A 10 anywhere is good but the home crowd is the best place to do it.”

Ohashi said that she has been trying to make the most out her final year in college gymnastics, and that she is thrilled by the way her season has been going.

“I just want to soak everything in,” Ohashi said. “If things go wrong, you turn the page. My parents have decided to come to all of (my meets) because for the first two years, they missed a lot of them and they want to see everything too.”

UCLA recorded a 9.900 or above on all five routines that counted on the uneven bars and a 9.925 or above on all five floor routines.

The Bruins are now the third team in the nation this year with a high score of 198 or better. The No. 2 Florida Gators have also recorded a high score of 198.025 this season.

UCLA will return to the road Saturday when it meets No. 4 Utah (6-0, 4-0) in Salt Lake City.