REGULAR-SEASON HOME FINALE AGAINST ARIZONA STATE
The 13th-ranked Bruins close out their regular-season home schedule this weekend with a three-game set against Arizona State. The series begins on Friday at 5 p.m., continues on Saturday at 7 p.m. and concludes with Senior Day on Sunday at 12 p.m. The three UCLA seniors, Allexis Bennett, Mysha Sataraka and Jazmine Sosa, will be honored prior to Sunday's game, as will Jim and Phyllis Easton, who committed $2 million to Easton Stadium's new video board. Friday and Saturday's games will air on Pac-12 Network, while all three contests will feature live audio and live stats on UCLABruins.com.

BENNETT FINALIST FOR USA SOFTBALL NATIONAL POY
Senior Allexis Bennett was named a Top 25 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, as announced by ASA/USA Softball on April 20. It is the second-straight season that Bennett has earned a spot as a finalist.

In its 15th year, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, given by the National Governing Body for softball in the United States, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. Previous recipients of the award include former Bruin Stacey Nuveman, the winner of the inaugural accolade in 2002.

This year's Top 25 is comprised of nine seniors, 11 juniors and five sophomores. The student-athletes selected represent 20 NCAA Division I universities and nine athletic conferences. Just prior to the start of postseason play, the list will be narrowed to the Top 10 finalists on May 11.

The Top 3 finalists will be announced May 25, while the winner of the 2016 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award will be revealed on May 31 prior to the start of the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

$2-MILLION GIFT RECEIVED FROM JIM AND PHYLLIS EASTON
The UCLA Athletics Department is pleased to announce a generous commitment of $2,000,000 from longtime university benefactors Jim and Phyllis Easton that will be used to support improvements, including a new scoreboard, to Easton Stadium, the home of 11-time NCAA National Champion UCLA Softball.

In appreciation of the Eastons' generosity, the new scoreboard at Easton Stadium will also prominently display the Easton name.

“Few people have had more of an impact upon both the athletic and campus communities here at UCLA than Jim and Phyllis Easton,” said Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero. “From the building of Easton Sports into an athletic equipment empire to their tireless dedication to philanthropy, the scope of the Eastons' contributions reaches well beyond school and department walls. The Eastons have had a direct impact on individual lives, and their generosity and leadership is quite simply an inspiration. I would like to thank both of them for their continued dedication to UCLA and, more specifically, our historic softball program.”

Jim, a UCLA graduate with a degree in engineering, and his wife, Phyllis, have been generous supporters of UCLA Athletics and entities across the university for many years, including the David Geffen School of Medicine, Anderson School of Management, and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

In 2014, Jim, who has the distinction of serving on the International Olympic Committee and was mayor of the Olympic Athletes Village at UCLA during the 1984 L.A. Olympic Games, was awarded the UCLA Medal of Honor – the university's highest honor bestowed on an individual for extraordinary achievement.

“It is an honor and pleasure to continue our support of UCLA Athletics with a new scoreboard and improvements at Easton Stadium…home of the top softball program in the country,” said Jim Easton. “We celebrate their success. Go Bruins!”

“Easton Stadium, tucked away on the UCLA campus and enjoyed by fans and players for over 20 years, is a jewel steeped in the tradition of excellence,” said Phyllis Easton. “We are excited and proud to support women's softball with this gift to UCLA Athletics.”

This transformative gift from the Eastons represents significant support for UCLA Softball. Upon securing this gift, UCLA has partnered with Daktronics to design, manufacture and install an integrated video display for Easton Stadium.

The new LED video display will feature 15HD pixel layout and measure nearly 14.5 feet high and more than 26.5 feet wide. It will incorporate excellent image clarity and contrast with wide angle visibility to appeal to every seat in the stadium.

“Jim and Phyllis Easton have supported UCLA Softball throughout the history of our program,” said UCLA Softball head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “It was the Easton family that provided the funding to transform a field into a stadium in the mid-90's. Today, we thank Jim and Phyllis for another generous donation. The video scoreboard will allow us to share our tradition and keep us in the forefront of college softball.”

14 BRUINS NAMED TO PAC-12 ALL-CENTURY TEAM

The Pac-12 Conference announced the All-Century Softball Team on Monday night and a total of 14 Bruins were on the 30-player roster, including Lisa Fernandez, who was named both the Player and the Pitcher of the Century.

The team was voted on by a panel of 35 consisting of coaches, players, administrators and members of the media. Members were voted to the team based on their collegiate careers. The 30-member roster consisted of 17 field players and 13 pitchers.

UCLA led all schools with 14 players. The Bruins had at least one person at every position on the diamond, including six pitchers, Fernandez, Tracy Compton, Debbie Doom, Amanda Freed, Keira Goerl and Lisa Longaker. Stacey Nuveman was the UCLA representative at catcher.

The Bruins had a quartet of players on the left side of the infield in third basemen Jennifer Brundage and Janice Parks and shortstops Dot Richardson and Natasha Watley. On the right side were first baseman Tairia Mims and second baseman Caitlin Benyi. Representing the Bruin outfielders was Gina Vecchione.

BRUINS IN THE POLLS
UCLA improved one spot to 13th in this week's ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings and remained at 15th for the second week in a row in the latest USA Today/NFCA poll. The Bruins were ranked second in the Pac-12 preseason poll.

TEAM NOTES
Last season, UCLA set a school record with 28 double plays turned. With six games remaining in the regular season, the Bruins have already surpassed that total, coming into this weekend's series with an NCAA-best 31 ... UCLA has 13 comeback victories, including a pair last weekend in Tucson. The Bruins came back from two down (4-2 through four) on Saturday and four behind (4-0 after two) on Monday. The four-run comeback tied for the largest of the season (Stanford, April 9, trailed 9-5). UCLA also has three-run comebacks versus Colorado State (Feb. 12), Cal State Fullerton (March 29) and Oregon State (April 16) ... a total of 28 of UCLA's 30 wins have come when it scores at least three runs ... the Bruins' victory against Oregon was their first series win versus the Ducks since 2010 ... UCLA won its fourth-straight series against Arizona ... the Bruins' tie against California on March 21 was just the fifth in school history, the first-ever draw in a conference contest for UCLA and the first tie since Feb. 18, 2000 versus Michigan ... UCLA is 16-0 when leading after five innings and 18-0 when up after six ... the Bruins are 21-4 when hitting at least one home run ... UCLA is 16-2 when not committing an error ... the Bruins are 22-3 when out-hitting their opponent ... UCLA has outscored its opponents in every inning but the seventh (11-9). Its largest margin is in the fifth when it has outscored its foes by 26 runs (56-30) ... the fifth inning is also the frame with the most homers for the Bruins (14 of 44) ... UCLA is 21-2 when holding its opponent to four runs or fewer.

PLAYER NOTES
Senior Allexis Bennett has hits in 10 of her last 11 games, posting a .472 (17-for-36) average during that stretch with six RBI, 10 runs and six walks. Six of those have been multiple-hit games, including a pair of two-hit contests at #15 Arizona, as Bennett leads the team with 19 multiple-hit affairs ... sophomore Johanna Grauer has a pair of saves over her last five appearances, but in both of those contests, she made the start. Against both Oregon State (April 16) and Arizona (April 25), Grauer re-entered to start the sixth inning and tossed a pair of scoreless frames to post her second and third saves of the season ... freshman Paige Halstead has hits in five in a row, going 8-for-15 (.533) with a homer and four RBI. She tied a season high with three RBI on Monday at Arizona, recording a two-run homer and an RBI single. Three of her last five contests have been two-hit affairs, giving her 13 multiple-hit games ... sophomore Madeline Jelenicki has eclipsed her freshman home run total after she hit her 10th at Arizona on Monday. She has three two-hit games in her last five contests, driving in four runs on April 16 versus Oregon State. Defensively, Jelenicki has just one error in 177 chances (.994 fielding percentage) ... junior Gabrielle Maurice has hits in seven of her last eight games, batting .417 (10-for-24) during that stretch with a homer and five RBI. She ended the Arizona series with a pair of two-hit games, including three doubles. In the last two contests of the previous series against Oregon State, Maurice drove in five ... redshirt junior Paige McDuffee earned her first save of the season last Saturday at Arizona, retiring the final two batters. In six relief outings, she is 3-0 with a 1.21 ERA and seven strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings ... sophomore Kylee Perez has separate hitting streaks of a career-high 14 and 10 this season, is second on the team with 16 multiple-hit games and third with 10 multi-RBI contests. Perez has reached base in 22 of her last 23 games. She scored both game-winning runs in last weekend's wins at Arizona ... senior Mysha Sataraka had hits, RBI and runs in all three games of the Arizona series, going 5-for-11 (.455) with six RBI, four runs and two homers. She posted a pair of two-hit games in each of the first two contests. Sataraka already has 19 more walks than she had last year and is tops among Pac-12 players ... junior Delaney Spaulding also had hits, RBI and runs in all three games in Tucson, batting .500 (5-for-10) with two homers, eight RBI and five runs scored. She drove in the game-winning runs in both victories on a grand slam on Saturday and a two-run double on Monday, both coming in the sixth inning. Spaulding has three grand slams this season and at least one home run in four straight Pac-12 series' ... sophomore Selina Ta'amilo picked up her 13th win of the season on Monday. She tossed a complete-game, five-hitter versus Stanford on April 11, fanning five ... freshman Brianna Tautalafua has reached base in 14 of her last 16 contests, which included a three-hit game at Arizona on Saturday. It was her second, three-hit contest of the year (at Oregon on April 3).

BRUINS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
The Bruins continue to lead the nation in double plays turned in stats released by the NCAA on Monday (UCLA added to that total with its 31st on Monday). UCLA is also in the Top 40 in five other categories, ranking 16th in on base percentage, 23rd in runs per game, 25th in batting average, 28th in slugging and 36th in fielding percentage. Senior Mysha Sataraka is fifth in the nation in walks, 13th in on base percentage and tied for 21st with sophomore Madeline Jelenicki in sacrifice flies. Senior Allexis Bennett ranks 29th in average, tied for 29th in runs scored and 33rd in on base percentage, while junior Delaney Spaulding is tied for 19th in RBI and tied for 47th in homers. Sophomore Kylee Perez is tied for 30th in sacrifice hits and junior Gabrielle Maurice is tied for 32nd in hit by pitches. The next NCAA stats release is Thursday.

BRUINS IN THE PAC-12 RANKINGS
UCLA leads all Pac-12 teams (through 4/26) in walks with 170 and also ranks second in hit by pitches (32) and sacrifice hits (32), tied for second in sacrifice flies (14) and saves (5), third in batting average (.323), on base percentage (.421), runs scored (281) and runs batted in (256) and fourth in slugging (.507), triples (8) and fielding percentage (.969). Individually, senior Mysha Sataraka is tops among league players in on base percentage (.545) and walks (45), while junior Gabrielle Maurice is first with 12 hit by pitches. Senior Allexis Bennett is second in batting average (.437), on base percentage (.523) and hits (62) and third in runs (48), sophomore Kylee Perez is second in sacrifice hits (10), junior Delaney Spaulding is tied for second in RBI (52) and sophomore Johanna Grauer is tied for second in saves (3). A full list of the Bruins in the Pac-12 rankings can be found on page four of this release.

THE MATCHUP: UCLA VS. ARIZONA STATE
The Bruins lead the all-time series, 93-36, but the Sun Devils won last year's series in Tempe (May 7-9), picking up 8-7 and 11-10 wins. UCLA took the middle game with an 11-5 victory. The winner of each of the last five contests of the series have scored at least eight runs. The Bruins are 45-15 at home against ASU. The Sun Devils won the 2013 series at Easton Stadium (2-1) and have won seven of the last eight in Westwood since 2008.