UCLA
Notre Dame
Saturday Split for #7 UCLA
February 21, 2016 | Softball
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CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – The seventh-ranked Bruins recorded 15 runs and 24 hits in Saturday's doubleheader, but were only able to come away with a split at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic I, falling to Notre Dame, 8-6, before defeating Cal Poly, 9-1, in five innings.
Against Notre Dame (6-3), the Bruins (5-2) posted a season-high 14 hits, but also had season highs in runners left on (13), errors (4) and unearned runs (5). The top two players in the lineup, senior Allexis Bennett and sophomore Kylee Perez, each had three-hit contests, with Bennett scoring three times. Junior Gabrielle Maurice and freshman Paige Halstead added two hits apiece, as eight of the UCLA starting nine recorded at least one base knock.
In the circle, sophomore Johanna Grauer (1-2) struck out three in 4 1/3 innings and gave up seven runs, but only three were earned, to go with her six hits and one walk allowed. She had 1-2-3 innings in the first and fourth, with a pair of strikeouts in the fourth. Sophomore Selina Ta'amilo tossed 2 2/3 innings of relief and fanned three, giving up an unearned run and four hits.
In the first, Bennett led off with a slap single to short and moved to third when Perez reached on a sacrifice attempt that was dropped at first, as Bennett moved up to third. After Perez stole second, senior Mysha Sataraka drew a walk two outs later to load the bases and a free pass to Maurice forced home Bennett with the game's first run. UCLA added one more in the second with a two-out rally, as Bennett slapped another single to short, Perez singled through the 3-4 hole and junior Delaney Spaulding singled through the 5-6 spot to raise the score to 2-0.
Notre Dame evened things up in the top of the third on a two-run single by Ali Wester, but UCLA re-took the lead in its half of the third. Maurice had a one-out double to left-center, and one out later, freshman Taylor Pack bounced a double over the fence in left to put the Bruins up 3-2. It was another two-out rally in the fourth. Bennett drew a leadoff walk and stole second, which was followed by a walk to Perez, as both moved up a base on a wild pitch. One out later, a grounder to first base by sophomore Madeline Jelenicki plated Bennett to make it 4-2.
In the fifth, Notre Dame batted around and scored five times, including four unearned runs due to a pair of errors. UCLA got two of the runs back in the fifth to get to within one. Maurice singled to left to start the inning and a triple down the right-field line off the bat of Halstead made it 7-5. One out later, a single to right from freshman Zoe Shaw got the Bruins to within one.
The Irish brought in another unearned run on another Bruin error in the top of the sixth to go up 8-6, which would also be the final score. UCLA left at least a pair on base in each of the first two and last three innings.
The Bruins' bats stayed hot in the nightcap against Cal Poly (5-4) with 10 more hits, including at least one by seven of the starting nine. Bennett, Maurice and Perez all had two hits, with Perez driving in four and Maurice knocking in three. Ta'amilo moved to 5-0 on the season, striking out seven in four innings and giving up a run, three hits and one walk. Grauer tossed a scoreless fifth inning.
UCLA (6-2) jumped on top with three runs in the bottom of the first. Bennett led off with a slap single to third, stole second and scored on a double to left-center by Perez. One out later, Sataraka walked, and after a Spaulding grounder moved both runners up, Maurice singled up the middle to plate Perez and Sataraka to make it 3-0.
The Bruins batted around in the second and scored six times. Pack led off with a single to left, Bennett singled to left and Perez hit her first home run of the season to right-center to increase the lead to 6-0. After a Jelenicki single to left, Sataraka also sent a liner to left for a hit, and when it was misplayed by the Cal Poly left fielder, Jelenicki came around to score and Sataraka moved to second. An infield single for Spaulding put runners at the corners for Maurice, who doubled to right-center to plate Sataraka to make it 8-0. Maurice would get hung up between second and third, but during the pickle, Spaulding scampered home with UCLA's ninth run.
Cal Poly scored its lone run in the third on a UCLA error following a double and a bunt single. Ta'amilo would have 1-2-3 innings in the second and fourth, striking out the side in the second and two each in the first and fourth.
The Bruins finish the weekend with another doubleheader on Sunday starting at 9 a.m. against #4 LSU to be followed by a matchup with Pacific. Live stats and video will be available on UCLABruins.com.
