University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Bruins and Ducks Face Off for WCWS Bid
May 26, 2016 | Softball
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#12-seed UCLA at #5-seed Oregon
Game 1 - Saturday, May 28 - 6:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Game 2 - Sunday, May 29 - 4 p.m.
TV: ESPNU
Game 3 - Sunday, May 29 - 7 p.m.
TV: ESPNU
BRUINS AND DUCKS SQUARE OFF FOR WCWS BID
The top two teams in the Pac-12 Conference standings will face off for a trip to the Women's College World Series, as the 12th-seeded Bruins take on #5-seed Oregon in the NCAA Super Regionals at Jane Sanders Stadium in Eugene. Saturday's first game will be at 6:30 p.m. and air live on ESPN. Game two of the Super Regional will be on Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPNU, and the if necessary third game will take place Sunday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
ALL-REGION AND ALL-PAC-12 AWARDS ANNOUNCED
Last Thursday was awards day for the Bruins, as a total of six players were named to the NFCA All-West Region teams, while seven were recognized on the All-Pac-12 squads.
Senior outfielder Allexis Bennett was named First Team All-Region and All-Pac-12, as well as the regular-season batting champion and Pac-12 All-Defensive for the second year in a row.
Joining Bennett on the list of those who were named both First Team All-Region and All-Pac-12 were senior third baseman Mysha Sataraka, junior shortstop Delaney Spaulding and sophomore second baseman Kylee Perez.
Sophomore Madeline Jelenicki gave the Bruins five First Team awards with the nod at catcher, while also earning All-Pac-12 Second Team accolades. Paige Halstead and Brianna Tautalafua were each named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, while Tautalafua (first base) was recognized on the NFCA All-Region Second Team.
The five First Team All-Region honors were the most for the Bruins since the 2002 squad, which also had five, while the four First Team All-Pac-12 plaudits equaled the best of any team in the league (Oregon).
ON DECK
The winner of the Eugene Super Regional will advance to the Women's College World Series and face the winner of the Auburn Super Regional (#4-seed Auburn vs. Arizona) on Thursday, June 2 in Oklahoma City.
BRUINS IN THE POLLS
UCLA closed the regular season at 13th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings and 14th in the USA Today/NFCA poll.
BRUINS IN NCAA SUPER REGIONAL PLAY
In the 12th year of the Super Regional format, the Bruins are making their eighth appearance (2005, '06, '08, '09, '10, '14, '15 and '16). UCLA has a 12-5 (.706) record in Super Regional play, advancing to the WCWS in '05 (2-1 over Georgia), '06 (2-0 over USF), '08 (2-0 over Georgia), '10 (2-0 over Louisiana-Lafayette) and '15 (2-0 over Missouri). The Bruins' two Super Regional losses have come to Missouri ('09) and Kentucky ('14), both 2-1 setbacks. UCLA, making its 32nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament, is 193-50 (.794 winning percentage) following last weekend's Regional sweep. With the Bruins' 3-0 record, they are now 90-14 (.865) in the Regional round and have gone undefeated 22 of 32 times. The entire UCLA NCAA postseason history is available on the penultimate page of this release.
TEAM NOTES
Last season, UCLA set a school record with 28 double plays turned. The Bruins already have 11 more as they open Super Regional play, with their 39 twin killings ranking first in the country ... Sunday's Regional Championship victory over Cal State Fullerton marked UCLA's 16th-comeback victory of the season, as the Bruins won after an early 3-0 deficit. The five-run comeback against Arizona State on April 30 was a season high. The Bruins also have four-run comebacks versus Arizona (April 25) and Stanford (April 9) and three-run comebacks versus Colorado State (Feb. 12), Cal State Fullerton (March 29), Oregon State (April 16) and Arizona State (April 29) ... a total of 14 of UCLA's 15 runs during Regionals came home via the home run ... the Bruins have a 7-0 record when using this batting order (Bennett, Perez, Spaulding, Sataraka, Jelenicki, Maurice, Tautalafua, Halstead and Shaw), the same lineup they used in each of the Regional wins ... a total of 36 of UCLA's 38 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 21-0 when leading after five innings and 22-0 when up after six ... the Bruins are 29-4 when hitting at least one home run ... UCLA is 20-2 when not committing an error ... the Bruins are 27-3 when out-hitting their opponent ... UCLA has outscored its opponents in every inning. Its largest margin is in the fifth when it has outscored its foes by 36 runs (69-33) ... the fifth inning is also the frame with the most home runs (19) ... the Bruins are 26-2 when holding their opponent to four runs or fewer.
PLAYER NOTES
Senior Allexis Bennett has reached base in 17 of her last 19 games, producing hits in 16 of those contests. She carried a nine-game hitting streak into the postseason, but was held to just one hit in 10 at-bats last weekend. Bennett leads the team with 20 multiple-hit games ... junior Jelly Felix recorded her second, pinch-hit single last Friday against CSU Bakersfield, as she also has three walks as a pinch-hitter ... sophomore Johanna Grauer threw the first no-hitter of her career, the 14th in UCLA postseason history and the 108th for the softball program in the Regional opener versus CSU Bakersfield. It was the first no-no for a Bruin pitcher in the postseason since Keira Goerl spun one on May 20, 2004 against Mississippi Valley State. Grauer struck out four and retired the first 20 batters of the game before a two-out walk in the seventh ... freshman Paige Halstead has hits in 10 of her last 13, batting .371 (13-for-35) during that stretch with two homers and six RBI. She had a hit in all three games last weekend, including a two-run homer versus Bakersfield, adding singles the next two days. Halstead tied a season high with three RBI on April 25 at Arizona ... sophomore Madeline Jelenicki has hits in eight of her last 11, batting .393 (11-for-28) with four homers and 11 RBI. She hit her 13th homer of the season to jump-start the Bruins' offense on Friday against Bakersfield. Jelenicki tied career highs with two homers and five RBI on May 1 against Arizona State ... in each of the last seven games in which junior Gabrielle Maurice has a hit, she has added another one to post a multiple-hit contest. She had another one versus Bakersfield when she went 2-for-3 with a grand slam, the Bruins' fifth of the year (three Delaney Spaulding, one Jelenicki). Since April 11, Maurice is batting .360 (18-for-50) with three homers and 15 RBI ... redshirt junior Paige McDuffee has been outstanding in relief this season. In nine appearances, she is 5-0 with two saves and a 0.90 earned run average and 11 strikeouts in 23 1/3 innings. McDuffee has 7 1/3 consecutive scoreless frames out of the pen, including four last weekend when she earned a win on Saturday versus Fullerton and a save on Sunday ... after going 38 games without a home run, sophomore Kylee Perez has left the yard in two of her last four contests. She homered on Saturday and added an RBI single on Sunday. Since going hitless at Arizona, Perez is 10-for-26 (.385) with two homers and six RBI, having reached base in 28 of her last 31 games ... senior Mysha Sataraka has reached base in 18 straight games and is batting .391 (18-for-46) during that stretch with six homers, 21 RBI and 17 runs. She has walked 18 times in those 18 contests, with 12 of them coming in the last eight games. Sataraka set a career high with four runs scored on May 6 at Utah, also driving in three ... freshman Zoe Shaw recorded her third multiple-hit game of the season on May 6 at Utah, posting a pair of singles, scoring twice and stealing a base ... junior Delaney Spaulding extended her hitting streak to 12 games after going 4-for-8 (.500) with three homers, five RBI and four runs in last weekend's Regionals, including posting her third-career, two-homer game on Saturday against Cal State Fullerton. During her hitting streak, she is batting .447 (17-for-38) with eight homers, 18 RBI and 17 runs. In addition to her hitting streak, Spaulding has scored a run in 13 straight and posted an RBI in 11 of her last 13. She has homered in each of her last seven weekends of action ... sophomore Selina Ta'amilo tossed her second complete-game shutout of the season on May 7 at Utah, hurling a three-hit, six-inning gem. She leads the team in wins with 18, picking up seven of the Bruins' last 10 victories, including the Regional Championship clincher on Sunday ... freshman Brianna Tautalafua has reached base in 21 of her last 24 contests. Over her last eight games, she is batting .333 (8-for-24) with three homers and nine RBI. Tautalafua ended the regular season with back-to-back games with two hits, a homer and four RBI at Utah.
BRUINS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
With their 39th double play turned on Saturday against Cal State Fullerton, the Bruins enter the Super Regional round leading the nation in twin killings. UCLA is one up on Murray State, which did not make the postseason. Super Regional teams Utah (third with 36) and Auburn (fourth with 35) are the only remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament with over 30. The Bruins are also in the top 20 in five other categories, ranking 11th in slugging (.534), 14th in on base percentage (.425), 16th in runs per game (6.58), tied for 17th in home runs (64) and 19th in batting average (.326). Senior Mysha Sataraka is fourth in the nation in walks with 57, 10th in on base percentage (.559), 36th in slugging (.756) and tied for 46th with sophomore Madeline Jelenicki in sacrifice flies (4). Junior Delaney Spaulding is tied for 17th in runs batted in (61), tied for 21st in home runs (17) and 50th in slugging (.732), senior Allexis Bennett is tied for 31st in runs scored (56) and 48th in batting average (.417) and sophomore Kylee Perez is tied for 47th in sacrifice hits (11).
BRUINS IN THE PAC-12 RANKINGS
UCLA enters the Super Regional round ranked second among all Pac-12 teams in walks (207) and third in batting average (.326), slugging (.534), on base percentage (.425), runs scored (342), runs batted in (314), hit by pitches (35) and sacrifice hits (41). Individually, senior Mysha Sataraka is first in on base percentage (.559) and walks (57), while senior Allexis Bennett is third in runs scored (56) and tied for third in hits (70). Junior Delaney Spaulding is third in RBI (61) and tied for third in homers (17), junior Gabrielle Maurice is first in hit by pitches (12), sophomore Johanna Grauer is tied for second in saves (3) and sophomore Kylee Perez is tied for third in sacrifice hits (11). A full list of the Bruins in the Pac-12 rankings can be found on page four of this release.
THE MATCHUP: UCLA VS. OREGON
The Bruins lead the all-time series against Oregon, 78-23, with UCLA posting its first series victory against the Ducks since 2010 on April 1-3 in Eugene. More information on that series can be found on pages 13 and 14 of this release. UCLA is 38-12 all-time in Eugene. The only matchup in the NCAA Tournament between UCLA and Oregon came in the first game of the 2015 Women's College World Series, as the Bruins posted a 7-1 victory (May 28).
TAUTALAFUA PAC-12 PLAYER & FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Nearly identical line scores helped Brianna Tautalafua pick up a pair of Pac-12 Conference awards on May 9, earning Player and Freshman of the Week honors.
Tautalafua ended her first regular season on a high note, going 4-for-7 (.571) with two home runs and eight RBI in a two-game sweep at #25 Utah. On May 6, the freshman went 2-for-4 with a homer and four runs batted in, posting an RBI single in the second inning before belting a three-run homer in the fifth to help the Bruins mercy the Utes, 15-7. Tautalafua would go 2-for-3 with a homer and four RBI an evening later, notching her RBI in the same way with an RBI single in the second and a three-run homer in the fifth, as UCLA won 8-0 in six innings.
The awards are the second and third of Tautalafua's career after being named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on April 4. UCLA earned its sixth and seventh weekly honors and its fourth conference Player of the Week. Senior Mysha Sataraka earned the award on May 2, as have junior Delaney Spaulding (March 14) and sophomore Kylee Perez (Feb. 23), while redshirt junior Paige McDuffee was Pitcher of the Week on April 4. UCLA has won 78 Pac-10/12 Player of the Week awards and two FOW honors in just the second year the award has been bestowed.
