#5 Bruins Finish With Wins Over Davis, Liberty

Sunday, February 19

Cathedral City, Calif.

11:30 AM

UCLA

9-1

UC Davis

3-3

UC Davis

UCLA

Both of junior Madeline Jelenicki's hits on Sunday left the yard.

#5 Bruins Finish With Wins Over Davis, Liberty

February 19, 2017 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 PDF Box Game 2 PDF Box

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CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. - The fifth-ranked Bruins' offense came alive late in both ends of Sunday's doubleheader, as UCLA defeated UC Davis 9-1 in six innings and Liberty 7-1 on the final day of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic I.

In game one versus the Aggies, UCLA (9-1) had 14 hits, as each starter posted at least one. Junior Kylee Perez and sophomore Paige Halstead each had three, while senior Delaney Spaulding added two.

In the circle, junior Selina Ta'amilo struck out six to win her second of the season. She allowed one run and four hits with no walks in six innings. Ta'amilo had 1-2-3 frames in the third and fifth, striking out a pair in the third.

UC Davis (3-3) drew first blood in its first at-bat, as an RBI double by Christa Castello put the Aggies on the board.

The Bruins evened the score in the second, as junior Madeline Jelenicki tied for the team lead in homers with her third on a shot to left-center.

UCLA took the lead with four in the third. With one out, Spaulding joined Jelenicki atop the home run lead with a bomb to straightaway center to put the Bruins up 2-1. Perez followed with a double to right, and after advancing a base on a fly out, scored on a single to left by redshirt freshman Rachel Garcia to make it 3-1. A single to left for Halstead and a walk to Jelenicki loaded the bases for sophomore Brianna Tautalafua, who doubled home freshman Jenna Crawford, who was running for Garcia, and Halstead to up the lead to 5-1.

The Bruins tacked on one more in the fourth, as sophomore Zoe Shaw led off with a double, and one out later, scored on a Perez double to make it 6-1. A Halstead homer to start off the fifth, her second of the year, brought the lead to 7-1.

UCLA closed things out with two in the bottom of the sixth. Spaulding led off with a single to center and advanced to second on a fielding error. After a bunt single by Perez put runners at the corners, a delayed steal with Perez allowed Spaulding to swipe home to make it 8-1. With sophomore Imani Johnson running for Perez, freshman Bubba Nickles singled to left and Garcia walked to load the bases for Halstead, who ended things with a single to left to score Johnson to finish a 9-1 Bruin victory.

In game two, the Bruins (10-1) had nine hits from six different players, with Garcia, Nickles and Perez all posting a pair.

Junior Johanna Grauer moved to 4-0 on the season, striking out eight in six innings and allowing one run, three hits and one walk. She retired the first 11 batters of the game before a walk and did not allow a hit until the fifth. Grauer struck out two in the first, third and fourth innings. Garcia tossed a scoreless seventh inning, fanning two and giving up one hit.

The Bruins jumped on Liberty (5-4) for a pair in the bottom of the first. Perez was issued a one-out walk, Nickles singled to left and both scored on a Garcia double to left.

UCLA added another in the fifth. Senior Gabrielle Maurice led off with a double to right, moved to third on a passed ball and scored two walks later on a Perez single to right to make it 3-0.

The Flames got on the board in the sixth on an RBI fielder's choice grounder with Autumn Bishop at the plate, scoring Sarah Robertson, to make it 3-1. The Bruins, however, responded with four in their half of the inning. Jelenicki led off with her team-best fourth homer to left-center to extend the lead to 4-1. One out later, Maurice walked, stole second and moved to third on a throwing error. One out later, Spaulding drew a walk. The Bruins then attempted another delayed double steal, with Maurice swiping home and Spaulding advancing to second on another Liberty error. A Perez double to center plated Spaulding to make it 6-1, while a Nickles single to right brought in Perez to push the lead to 7-1.

The Bruins are back in Cathedral City next weekend for five games over four days, starting on Thursday versus #12 Georgia at 5:30 p.m.