UCLA
Texas A&M
Sixth-Ranked Bruins Win One, Lose One on Saturday at So Cal Classic
February 08, 2015 | Softball
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LOS ANGELES - For the second day in a row, the sixth-ranked Bruins split a doubleheader at the So Cal Collegiate Classic, beating Purdue 9-3 in the nightcap, but falling to #24 Texas A&M 6-4 in the opener on Saturday.
The Bruins, 3-2 after the doubleheader, broke open a tie game in the sixth against Purdue with six runs, as junior Brittany Moeai recorded the first two-homer game of her career to go with a personal-high five runs batted in. Junior Mysha Sataraka also had two hits and two RBI.
In the circle, senior Ally Carda picked up the win in relief with 1 1/3 hitless innings, striking out three and walking two. Freshman Johanna Grauer started and struck out five in 4 2/3 frames, allowing nine hits and three runs. Freshman Selina Ta'amilo tossed a scoreless seventh, giving up two hits with one strikeout.
The Bruins got on the board first with a pair of runs on one swing of the bat in the second. Senior Stephany LaRosa drew a leadoff walk, and one out later, came home on Sataraka's second jack of the season to left.
Purdue (0-4) cut its deficit in half in the third when Ashley Burkhardt homered to right, but UCLA got that run back in its half of the third when Moeai hit her first homer of the contest to right-center with two outs to make it 3-1.
In the fifth, the Boilermakers evened the score at three. With one out, CJ Parsons singled to left, and one out later, Mary Gooding singled up the middle. Burkhardt followed with a single to score Parsons to make it 3-2 and another single up the middle by Kaylah Hampton plated Gooding to even the game.
In the sixth, the Bruins put up a half a dozen to take the advantage. With one out, junior Allexis Bennett doubled to left-center, Carda walked and sophomore Delaney Spaulding reached on an error by Purdue's Paris Andrew at shortstop to load the bases. One out later, freshman Maddy Jelenicki blooped a single into center field to score Bennett and Carda to put the Bruins on top 5-3. After a walk to LaRosa, Moeai crushed a grand slam to right-center to increase the edge to 9-3.
UCLA scored first in Saturday's opener against Texas A&M (3-1), but a six spot in the second gave the Aggies all the runs they would need. The Bruins had seven hits, with Spaulding recording three of them. It was another three-headed effort in the circle. Ta'amilo started and struck out two in an inning-plus, giving up four runs, four hits and two walks. Carda tossed five innings of relief and struck out eight, but walked six, giving up two runs and two hits. Grauer pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
In the first, Carda led off with a walk, moved to second on a Spaulding sacrifice and advanced to third on a Jelenicki ground out. Aggie pitcher Abby Donnell then walked three in a row, LaRosa, sophomore Gabrielle Maurice and Moeai, the last of which forced in Carda.
Texas A&M rallied back in the second. Three straight singles for Celena Massey, Kristen Cuyos and Erica Russell loaded the bases for Brittany Clopton, who singled to right to plate a pair to make it 2-1. After April Ryan was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Tori Vidales hit a grand slam to extend the advantage to 6-1.
The Bruins chipped away, but eventually ran out of outs. In the fourth, senior Gracie Goulder reached on a bunt single, advanced to second on a Bennett sacrifice and scored on a double to center by Carda to make it 6-2.
In the sixth, Goulder led off with a walk, Bennett bunted her over and she moved to third on a wild pitch. One out later, Spaulding singled to center to cut the deficit to 6-3.
The Bruins would tack on another run in the seventh on Sataraka's first homer of the season to center, but the home team fell two short.
UCLA closes out the weekend against San Diego State at 12:30 p.m. Free audio and live stats will be available at UCLABruins.com.
