UCLA
Arizona State
UCLA Walks It Off ... Again
May 01, 2016 | Softball
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LOS ANGELES - On Friday night, the Bruins rallied from three down in the bottom of the seventh on four singles and a three-run homer to beat Arizona State. On Saturday for an encore, UCLA came back from 5-0 down on three singles, a double, a walk and a walk-off, three-run bomb by junior Gabrielle Maurice to give the 13th-ranked team in the nation a 6-5 win at Easton Stadium.
The Bruins improved to 32-13-1 overall and 13-5-1 in Pac-12 play, while the Sun Devils fell to 27-21 and 3-14 in league action.
UCLA had seven hits as a team from six different players, as Maurice recorded a pair of hits. In the circle, sophomore Selina Ta'amilo started and re-entered to pick up the win, striking out two in 3 1/3 innings and giving up one run, three hits and one walk. Sophomore Johanna Grauer tossed 3 2/3 innings of relief and did not allow an earned run, fanning three and giving up four hits and one walk. She had a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the third and the fourth.
Everything was going Arizona State's way for the first 6 1/2 innings, as the visitors were making amazing catches all over the field, while the home squad left nine on base in the first five frames. The Sun Devils scored in their first at-bat on an RBI single by Nikki Girard and added two more in both the fourth and the fifth. In the fourth, ASU scored on an RBI single by Jennifer Soria and a sacrifice fly by Sashel Palacios, while in the fifth, an RBI single from Margaret Stahm and an RBI single by Nichole Chilson extended the Sun Devils' lead to 5-0.
Then the bottom of the seventh happened ... again. Senior Allexis Bennett and sophomore Kylee Perez led off the inning with back-to-back singles and Bennett came home on a double down the left-field line by junior Delaney Spaulding to make it 5-1. After a walk to senior Mysha Sataraka, her fourth of the the game to set a new career high, sophomore Madeline Jelenicki singled to left to score Perez and Spaulding to cut the deficit to 5-3.
That set the stage for Maurice, who worked the count to full and on the 12th pitch of the at-bat sent the Bruins home winners with a three-run bomb to center, her fifth of the season, to give UCLA the 6-5 win. Over the last two bottom of the seventh innings, the Bruins have combined for seven singles, a double, one walk and two three-run homers, while not recording an out.
The Bruins look to sweep the Sun Devils on Sunday at 12 p.m. at Easton Stadium. Tickets are limited and will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis, starting at 9:30 a.m. The game will also feature live audio and stats on UCLABruins.com.
