Saturday, April 20
Stanford, CA
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UCLA
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Stanford
36-9, 0
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Lisa Fernandez (left) and Megan Grant
Photo by: Vinny Lavalsiti
Softball Secures Series Win at No. 5 Stanford
April 20, 2024 | Softball
STANFORD, Calif. – The No. 12 UCLA softball team posted nine hits in a 9-3 victory to secure the series win at No. 5 Stanford at Smith Family Stadium Saturday.
The Bruins (26-9, 11-3 Pac-12) sit just a .5 game back of the Cardinal (36-9, 13-4) in the Pac-12 Conference standings.
Sharlize Palacios went 2-for-3 and launched her 10th home run of the season in the top of the sixth inning for the final dagger. For the second day in a row, Megan Grant recorded two hits and doubled off the top quarter of the center field wall.
Sophomore pitcher Taylor Tinsley pitched 4.0 innings of shutout relief and struck out three batters to earn her second win of the series. Tinsley's performance came on the heels of the longest outing of her career in game on Friday, pitching 9.0 innings and striking out the opposition a career-high 15 times.
Stanford scored the game's first run off UCLA starter Kaitlyn Terry in the bottom of the second inning. Shortstop Maya Brady's throw to second base to start the turn of a routine 6-4-3 double play went wide of second baseman Seneca Curo, allowing a pair of Cardinal runners to advance into scoring position with no outs. On the next play, a diving stop by Curo up the middle pushed the grounder to Brady who stepped on the bag for the force out while Stanford's Kyra Chan crossed home.
After being held hitless through the first three innings, the Bruins' bats erupted for five runs on four hits off Cardinal starter Regan Krause in the top of the fourth. A single through the 5-6 hole by Palacios started the rally. One batter later, Grant pounded her double in front of her hometown crowd to score Jordan Woolery from first base. Curo plated the go-ahead run on a single up the middle that skirted underneath the glove of Stanford's diving second baseman.
The Shelly Carlin UCLA Head Softball Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez called upon Savannah Pola to pinch hit with two outs. Pola skied a fly ball to left field that fell between the Cardinal's shortstop and left fielder onto the chalked foul line. Two runs scored on the play, stretching UCLA's lead to 4-1. The Bruins tacked on one more run before the inning came to an end. A failed pickoff attempt by Stanford catcher Aly Kaneshiro went wide of her third baseman which allowed Janelle Meoño to scamper home.
The Cardinal cut into the Bruins' lead with a two-run homer off the bat of No. 9 hitter Kaitlyn Lim in the bottom of the fourth, making it 5-3.
Prior to Palacios' blast, Brady recorded her first hit and RBI of the series earlier in the sixth with a single up the middle to score Curo. Curo reached base via walk and was bunted into scoring position on a successful sacrifice by Meoño.
Thessa Malau'ulu logged the final RBI base hit of the day with a single to right field in the seventh inning.
UCLA aims for a series sweep of Stanford tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. (PT) at Smith Family Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2 with Matt Schumacker and Amanda Scarborough on the call.
The Bruins (26-9, 11-3 Pac-12) sit just a .5 game back of the Cardinal (36-9, 13-4) in the Pac-12 Conference standings.
Sharlize Palacios went 2-for-3 and launched her 10th home run of the season in the top of the sixth inning for the final dagger. For the second day in a row, Megan Grant recorded two hits and doubled off the top quarter of the center field wall.
Sophomore pitcher Taylor Tinsley pitched 4.0 innings of shutout relief and struck out three batters to earn her second win of the series. Tinsley's performance came on the heels of the longest outing of her career in game on Friday, pitching 9.0 innings and striking out the opposition a career-high 15 times.
Stanford scored the game's first run off UCLA starter Kaitlyn Terry in the bottom of the second inning. Shortstop Maya Brady's throw to second base to start the turn of a routine 6-4-3 double play went wide of second baseman Seneca Curo, allowing a pair of Cardinal runners to advance into scoring position with no outs. On the next play, a diving stop by Curo up the middle pushed the grounder to Brady who stepped on the bag for the force out while Stanford's Kyra Chan crossed home.
After being held hitless through the first three innings, the Bruins' bats erupted for five runs on four hits off Cardinal starter Regan Krause in the top of the fourth. A single through the 5-6 hole by Palacios started the rally. One batter later, Grant pounded her double in front of her hometown crowd to score Jordan Woolery from first base. Curo plated the go-ahead run on a single up the middle that skirted underneath the glove of Stanford's diving second baseman.
The Shelly Carlin UCLA Head Softball Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez called upon Savannah Pola to pinch hit with two outs. Pola skied a fly ball to left field that fell between the Cardinal's shortstop and left fielder onto the chalked foul line. Two runs scored on the play, stretching UCLA's lead to 4-1. The Bruins tacked on one more run before the inning came to an end. A failed pickoff attempt by Stanford catcher Aly Kaneshiro went wide of her third baseman which allowed Janelle Meoño to scamper home.
The Cardinal cut into the Bruins' lead with a two-run homer off the bat of No. 9 hitter Kaitlyn Lim in the bottom of the fourth, making it 5-3.
Prior to Palacios' blast, Brady recorded her first hit and RBI of the series earlier in the sixth with a single up the middle to score Curo. Curo reached base via walk and was bunted into scoring position on a successful sacrifice by Meoño.
Thessa Malau'ulu logged the final RBI base hit of the day with a single to right field in the seventh inning.
UCLA aims for a series sweep of Stanford tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. (PT) at Smith Family Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2 with Matt Schumacker and Amanda Scarborough on the call.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Tinsley, Taylor (12-8)
L: Krause, R. (16-3)
Batting:
2B: Grant, Megan 1 ; Pola, Savannah 1
HR: Palacios, Sharlize 1
RBI: Brady, Maya 1 ; Palacios, Sharlize 2 ; Grant, Megan 1 ; Malau'ulu, Thessa 1 ; Curo, Seneca 1 ; Pola, Savannah 2
SH: Meoño, Janelle 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brady, Maya 1 ; Palacios, Sharlize 1 ; Woolery, Jordan 1 ; Grant, Megan 1 ; Stephens, Taylor 1 ; Suarez, Ramsey 1 ; Curo, Seneca 2 ; Meoño, Janelle 1
SB: Brady, Maya 1
HBP: Brady, Maya 1 ; Suarez, Ramsey 2
Batting:
2B: Koch, C. 1
HR: Lim, K. 1
RBI: Berry, J. 1 ; Lim, K. 2
SH: Chan, K. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Chan, K. 1 ; Mahler, R. 1 ; Lim, K. 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
1
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
SS
/ Softball
INF
/ SoftballUTIL
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballC
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
P/OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
INF
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