UCLA
Stanford
Eighth-Ranked Bruins Power Their Way to Mercy-Rule Win
April 11, 2015 | Softball
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STANFORD, Calif. - The eighth-ranked Bruins tied a season high with three home runs, as senior Stephany LaRosa, sophomore Delaney Spaulding and freshman Kylee Perez all left the yard in UCLA's 12-4, six-inning victory over Stanford on Friday at Smith Family Stadium.
The Bruins improve to 33-8 overall and 7-3 in Pac-12 play, while the Cardinal fall to 16-23 and 1-9 in league action.
UCLA had 14 hits as a team, with five producing multiple-hit games and eight getting at least one. LaRosa had three hits and two runs batted in, Perez and Spaulding each posted two hits and three RBI and senior Ally Carda and sophomore Gabrielle Maurice both notched a pair of hits.
Carda picked up the win in the circle to move to 18-4 on the season. She struck out eight and gave up four runs (three earned), four hits and three walks in five innings. Carda had a 1-2-3 frame in the fifth, striking out the side in the third and two in both the second and fourth. Freshman Selina Ta'amilo fanned two in an inning of relief, allowing two walks.
The Bruins jumped out to a 7-0 lead with two in the first and five in the second. With one out in their first at-bat, Spaulding walked and LaRosa hit her seventh homer of the season to straightaway center. In the second, with sophomore Allexis Bennett at first, Carda singled through the 5-6 hole to move Bennett to third. When shortstop Kaitlin Schaberg's relay throw to third got away, Bennett came home with the Bruins' third run, as Carda advanced all the way to third.
That was followed by a Spaulding single up the middle to score Carda to make it 4-0. One out later, junior Brittany Moeai was hit by a pitch and Perez connected with her second homer of the season to left, a three-run shot, to put the Bruins up 7-0.
Stanford got two back in the second after Schaberg walked and Kylie Sorenson homered to center to make it 7-2. The Cardinal scored two more in the third on a Sorenson RBI single, with another run coming in on the same play on an error.
In the fourth, the Bruins brought in two. Perez led off with a walk and Maurice singled up the middle. Freshman Maddy Jelenicki followed with a single up the middle to score Perez, as Maurice went to third. Jelenicki would get into a pickle between first and second, but long enough to allow Maurice to come home to make it 9-4.
UCLA added another in the fifth. LaRosa led off with a single, and was pinch-run for by sophomore Robyn Corruth, who moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a Moeai single and home two batters later on a bases-loaded walk to Jelenicki to make it 10-4.
The Bruins' third homer of the game put the mercy rule into effect. Carda led off with a single, and was pinch-run for by senior Sam Duran, who scored on Spaulding's seventh homer of the season to left-center to make it 12-4.
UCLA and Stanford battle again on Saturday at 5 p.m. Live stats will be available on UCLABruins.com.
