Friday, May 19
Los Angeles, Calif.
8:30 PM
UCLA
vs
Lehigh
Freshman Bubba Nickles begins her first postseason with hits in 12 of her last 16 games.
#5-Seed UCLA Hosts Lehigh to Open NCAA Regional
May 17, 2017 | Softball
UCLA Softball Twitterย |ย Facebookย |ย Instagram
Los Angeles NCAA Regional Tournament Central (Live Stats/Live Audio/TV Information)
Friday, May 19
Game 1 - San Jose State vs. Cal State Fullerton - 6 p.m.
Game 2 - Lehigh vs. UCLA - 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 20
Game 3 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 2 p.m.
Game 4 - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 - 4:30 p.m.
Game 5 - Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 - 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 21
Game 6 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 - 4 p.m.
Game 7 - Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary) - 6:30 p.m.
All Games atย Easton Stadium
Tickets
Twitter Updates
FIFTH-SEEDED BRUINS HOST LEHIGH ON FRIDAY
The fifth-seeded Bruins begin the 2017 L.A. NCAA Regional on Friday night, hosting Lehigh at Easton Stadium at 8:30 p.m. The game will air on ESPN2 and will also feature free live audio on UCLABruins.com. The L.A. Regional begins at 6 p.m. on Friday when San Jose State and Cal State Fullerton square off, continues on Saturday with three games, including two elimination contests, and concludes with one or two games on Sunday.
WHAT'S NEXT
The winner of the Los Angeles Regional will advance to next weekend's Super Regional, facing the winner of the Oxford Regional, which features #12-seed Ole Miss, North Carolina, Arizona State and Southern Illinois.
BRUINS IN THE POLLS
UCLA closed the regular season at eighth in the USA Today/NFCA poll and ninth in the ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings.
BRUINS IN NCAA REGIONAL PLAY
UCLA is making its 33rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament (tied for the most in history with Fresno State) and holds a record of 195-53 (.786). During the Regional round, the Bruins are 90-14 (.865) and have gone undefeated 22 times, including each of the last three seasons. Since Regional play moved to a four-team format in 2005, the Bruins are 32-9 (.780), advancing to the Supers in '05, '06, '08, '09, '10, '14, '15 and '16. UCLA is hosting a Regional for the 22nd time and is 56-5 (.918) in 21 previous Regionals at Easton and 68-10 (.872) overall during postseason games in Westwood. The entire UCLA NCAA postseason history is available on the penultimate page of this release.
GARCIA NAMED PAC-12 FOY, FIVE BRUINS HONORED
Rachel Garcia was named Pac-12 Conference Freshman of the Year, as announced on Monday, and was one of five Bruins to receive All-Conference honors.
Garcia is the sixth Bruin to earn Pac-10/12 Newcomer or Freshman of the Year honors, joining Tanya Harding (1995), Julie Adams (1996), Stacey Nuveman (1997), Anjelica Selden (2005) and Stephany LaRosa (2012).
Garcia, who was also named All-Freshman Team, was joined on the All-Pac-12 First Team by senior Delaney Spaulding and juniors Madeline Jelenicki and Kylee Perez. Freshman Bubba Nickles picked up All-Pac-12 Second and Freshman Team accolades, while Perez and Spaulding were selected to the All-Pac-12 Defensive Team.
Spaulding became the 29th Bruin to receive four All-Conference honors, picking up her third consecutive First Team award. Perez's All-Pac-12 nod was her second in a row and her third straight All-Conference selection. Jelenicki recorded her second All-Pac-12 award and her initial First Team plaudit after being named Second Team a year ago.
GARCIA TOP 11 FINALIST FOR NFCA FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Rachel Garcia was named a Top 10 finalist for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year award, as announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on May 11. On May 24, the list will be trimmed down to the Top Three finalists. The Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year trophy will be presented during a live ceremony on May 31 at the Women's College World Series.
SPAULDING, GARCIA EARN PAC-12 WEEKLY HONORS
Senior Delaney Spaulding was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Tuesday, while redshirt freshman Rachel Garcia picked up her fourth Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor.
In her final Pac-12 series, Spaulding had eight hits in 12 at-bats (.667) during the Bruins' three-game sweep at Arizona State last weekend, scoring nine runs, driving in five and hitting a pair of home runs. Garcia was 5-for-11 (.455) at the plate with a homer, three RBI and two runs scored, while going 2-0 in the circle with a pair of complete games and 11 strikeouts in 12 innings.
Spaulding's Player of the Week award is her first of the season and third of her career. She won the honor once as a sophomore on March 9, 2015 and once last season on March 14, 2016. UCLA has won 79 Pac-10/12 Player of the Week awards.
Garcia picked up her seventh weekly honor, having won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week four times (April 25, April 11 and March 28) and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week three times (April 25, April 11, Feb. 21). The award is the sixth Freshman of the Week honor for UCLA in just the third year the accolade has been bestowed.
NEWS AND NOTES
The Bruins recorded the program's 1,800th victory with their win on March 26 against Dartmouth ... UCLA had 17 comeback victories last season and have 12 this season, including three walk-off wins ... redshirt freshman Rachel Garcia didn't allow an earned run in 16 straight innings from April 21-26, striking out 18, and also didn't give up a run in 7 2/3 frames (May 5-6) versus Arizona to earn a win and a save. In her 37 appearances, she has given up zero or one earned run in 24 of them ... Garcia, who had a season-best, eight-game hitting streak from April 14-28, has hits in 20 of her last 25 games to raise her average from .261 to .329. She has reached base in 16 games in a row ... junior Johanna Grauer posted her 11th win of the season at Arizona State last Friday. She has double figures in wins in all three seasons ... sophomore Paige Halstead posted her 10th multiple-hit game of the season when she had a single and a double last Thursday at ASU. She also drove in a run on a single in Saturday's regular-season finale ... junior Madeline Jelenicki set a career high with a nine-game hitting streak from April 26-May 12, batting .367 (11-for-30) with two homers and 18 RBI during that stretch. The team leader in multi-RBI contests at 16 has five in her last 10 games ... senior Gabrielle Maurice had a 10-game hitting streak from April 14-30, batting .375 (12-for-32) with two RBI. She posted three hits in a game for the 10th time in her career when she had three singles last Thursday at ASU ... freshman Bubba Nickles has hits in 12 of her last 16 contests, including all three at ASU. She posted her first three-hit game of the season on Friday in Tempe with two singles and a solo homer ... junior Kylee Perez had seven hits in the ASU series, including four in the final game of the regular season. She drove in a career-high five, including a grand slam, last Saturday, going 4-for-4 with four runs to tie a personal best. Perez enters the postseason on a seven-game hitting streak in which she is batting .542 (13-for-24) with 10 RBI and 13 runs ... sophomore Zoe Shaw, the Bruins' leading hitter in Pac-12 play (.415), tied career highs with three hits and three runs in Friday's win at ASU. She had a career-best, seven-game hitting streak from April 22-May 5, batting .667 (10-for-15) with eight runs and five walks during that stretch ... senior Delaney Spaulding had eight hits at ASU, tying a school record with five on May 12 to post the 10th, five-hit game at UCLA and second of the season (Perez, April 28 at Stanford). She also scored five runs to become just the second Bruin to accomplish that feat (Samantha Camuso, 2008). Spaulding has 17 RBI in her last 11 games, producing three during that 5-for-5 contest thanks to a three-run homer ... junior Selina Ta'amilo tossed 4 1/3 shutout innings on May 6 versus Arizona to win her 13th game of the season. With a 13-0 record, she is within one victory of the most recent undefeated campaign in Bruin history (Michelle Turner, 14-0, 2003) ... sophomore Brianna Tautalafua ended the regular season with back-to-back, three-hit contests to give her 11 multiple-hit games this year. She drove in five runs last Friday to tie a career high, recording a three-run homer and a two-run single.
SCOUTING THE LEHIGH MOUNTAIN HAWKS
Lehigh won twice last Sunday to win the Patriot League Tournament and advance to its 10th NCAA Championship. The Mountain Hawks went 36-18 during the regular season, claiming the league's regular season title with a 16-2 mark. Lehigh is batting .289 with 20 home runs and 77 stolen bases, averaging 4.6 runs per game. Five players are hitting over .300, led by junior Nicole Yozzo (.331), who is also first with 26 steals. Sophomore Ashley Quidolit Rabago is second with a .323 average and 17 stolen bases, while junior Carolyn Wright (.316) is tops on the squad with 41 runs batted in. Senior Christine Campbell is 22-5 with a 2.02 earned run average and 108 strikeouts in 176 2/3 innings, while sophomore Emily Sorem is 11-8 with a 2.47 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 122 innings. UCLA and Lehigh will be playing for the first time on Friday.
SCOUTING THE CAL STATE FULLERTON TITANS
Cal State Fullerton earned the Big West Conference's automatic bid with a 16-5 league record to go with a 33-21 overall mark. The Titans will be making their second straight trip to the Los Angeles Regional. Fullerton is batting .266 as a team with 25 home runs and 63 stolen bases, averaging 3.5 runs per game. Four players are hitting over .300, led by senior Delynn Rippy's .352 clip. Senior Alexis Gonzalez (.316) leads the team with 10 homers and 39 runs batted in, while sophomore Ariana Williams (.314) is first with 24 stolen bases. Senior Kelsey Kessler is 19-7 with a 1.50 earned run average and 160 strikeouts in 177 1/3 innings, while senior Cerissa Rivera is 5-2 with a 2.29 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings. The Bruins have won seven in a row against the Titans, including a pair of victories this season, to hold a 46-33-1 all-time edge. On March 4 at Fullerton, UCLA scored two unearned runs in the sixth inning to post a 2-0 win, as Johanna Grauer struck out seven in a four-hit shutout. On April 18 at Easton, the Bruins won 7-3, as Brianna Tautalafua went 4-for-4 with four RBI and a homer, while Madeline Jelenicki and Delaney Spaulding each had two hits. UCLA is 23-14-1 at home against Fullerton and 14-4 overall versus the Titans in the NCAA Tournament.
SCOUTING THE SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS
San Jose State won its first Mountain West Championship to earn a berth into the NCAA field for the first time since 2013. The Spartans went 36-17 overall and 16-8 in league play. San Jose State is hitting .298 as a team with 23 home runs and 34 stolen bases, averaging 4.8 runs per game. Five players are hitting over .300, led by freshman Georgia Blair's .380 clip with a team-leading six homers. Sophomore Madison Aurin (.357) leads the team with 31 runs batted in, while senior Casey Watt (.344) has a team-high nine steals. In the circle, senior Katelyn Linford is 23-7 with a 2.33 earned run average and 190 strikeouts in 198 1/3 innings, while senior Colette Riggs is 10-4 with a 2.40 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 99 1/3 innings. The Bruins are 11-0 all-time against San Jose State and 7-0 at Easton Stadium. The last meeting was on Feb. 16, 2013 (8-4 UCLA) in Las Vegas.
Players Mentioned
P/UTIL
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/UTIL
/ Softball
C/1B
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P/INF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
INF
/ SoftballUCLA Softball Postgame - Coach Inouye-Perez & Players, vs. Tennessee (June 1, 2025)
Sunday, June 01
UCLA Softball Postgame - Coach Inouye-Perez & Players, vs. Texas Tech (May 31, 2025)
Saturday, May 31
Highlights - UCLA Softball vs. Oregon (May 29, 2025)
Thursday, May 29
UCLA Softball Postgame - Coach Inouye-Perez & Players, vs. Oregon (May 29, 2025)
Thursday, May 29