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#13 UCLA Masterful in a Pair of Saturday Wins at the Stacy Winsberg
March 08, 2015 | Softball
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LOS ANGELES - The Bruins extended their winning streak to seven with a pair of victories on Saturday at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament at Easton Stadium, defeating Illinois 9-2 and UC Davis 8-0 in six innings.
In game one, junior Paige McDuffee and freshman Selina Ta'amilo combined on a seven-hitter. McDuffee started and struck out two in three innings, giving up an unearned run and four hits with no walks. Ta'amilo (3-1) fanned four in four frames of relief, allowing a run, three hits and a walk. She had a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth and two strikeouts in the sixth.
Eight different Bruins (20-5) had a hit, as sophomore Gabrielle Maurice and freshman Maddy Jelenicki each drove in two.
UCLA scored three in the first. Senior Ally Carda reached second following an error by Illinois (8-14) second baseman Allie Bauch and sophomore Delaney Spaulding walked, as Carda moved to third via a passed ball on ball four. Spaulding then stole second and the throw by Jess Perkins went into center, as Carda came home with the Bruins' first run. After a walk to freshman Kylee Perez, senior Stephany LaRosa bounced to third to force Spaulding for the first out of the inning.
That was followed by a walk to Maurice to load the bases and then junior Brittany Moeai singled to center to plate Perez to make it 2-0. A Jelenicki grounder to second brought home LaRosa with UCLA's third run.
The Fighting Illini got one back in the second. Carly Thomas reached on an error by McDuffee, stole second, moved to third on a grounder and scored on a passed ball to make it 3-1.
The Bruins padded their lead with five in the second. Junior Allexis Bennett led off with a bunt single, stole second and moved to third on a hard-hit double to right by Carda. Spaulding then laid down a perfect squeeze, as the throw home was not in time to get Bennett to make it 4-1. After Perez tapped into a fielder's choice, with Carda getting put out at home, LaRosa singled to left to bring in Spaulding with UCLA's fifth run.
A Maurice triple to left-center scored Perez and senior Tara Mueller, who was running for LaRosa, to extend the advantage to 7-1. After a walk to Moeai, Jelenicki lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Maurice to make it 8-1.
Each team scored a run in the fifth. Kate Giddens led off with a single up the middle for Illinois, moved to second on a ground out, advanced to third on a bunt hit by Kylie Johnson and scored on a single to left by Alyssa Gunther to make it 8-2.
In the Bruins' half of the fifth, Carda drew a one-out walk, moved to third on a Spaulding double and scored on a Perez sacrifice fly to right-center to give the home team a 9-2 edge.
In game two versus UC Davis (9-12), a night after her third career no-hitter, Carda set a new personal high in strikeouts with 14, besting her previous record of 11. At one stretch, she posted 10 straight outs via the K, fanning the side in the first, fourth and fifth, two in the third and sixth and one in the second. The senior improved to 10-3 on the year, allowing three hits and two walks over six shutout frames.
At the plate, the Bruins (21-5) had eight hits from six different players, as Bennett and Moeai each recorded a pair, while Jelenicki drove in three and Carda two.
UCLA got on the board with a run in the second, as junior Mysha Sataraka crushed her third homer of the season to left-center.
The Bruins pushed across one more in the third. Bennett led off with an infield single to the 5-6 hole, moved to second on a Carda sacrifice, to third on a Spaulding single to left and scored on a grounder to second by Perez to make it 2-0.
UCLA invoked the mercy rule with six in the sixth. With one out, Moeai singled up the middle and moved to second on a wild pitch. Sataraka walked, and was pinch-run for by senior Jessica Amaral, which was followed by senior Gracie Goulder grounding one to short, but it was bobbled by Christa Castello for an error. Moeai came in to score on the miscue to make it 3-0, Amaral took third and Goulder advanced to second. An infield single to third by Bennett loaded the bases for Carda, who singled down the left-field line to bring in Amaral and Goulder to extend the lead to 5-0.
Spaulding then tapped one back to pitcher Alicia Paine, but it was booted to re-load the bases. A grounder to second by Perez forced Bennett at home with the second out, but Jelenicki cleared the Bruins with a triple to right-center to give UCLA the 8-0 victory.
The Bruins close out the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament on Sunday against UC Davis (12:30 p.m.) and Providence (3 p.m.). Live stats and free audio will be available on UCLABruins.com.
