University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Seventh-Ranked Bruins Host #16 Arizona on Senior Weekend
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2015 UCLA Softball Schedule | PDF Schedule
#16/#17 Arizona at #7/#7 UCLA - 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 2 (TV: ESPNU)
#16/#17 Arizona at #7/#7 UCLA - 2 p.m.
Sunday, May 3 (TV: Pac-12 Networks)
#16/#17 Arizona at #7/#7 UCLA - 7 p.m.
Ticket Information (Advance Tickets Sold Out for Saturday/Sunday)
#7 UCLA HOSTS SENIOR WEEKEND, #16 ARIZONA
The seventh-ranked Bruins host #16 Arizona at Easton Stadium on Senior Weekend, playing Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. The Friday and Sunday contests will be televised on Pac-12 Networks, while the Saturday game will be on ESPNU. Free audio will also be available on UCLABruins.com for the Saturday and Sunday games, as well as live stats on UCLABruins.com and Twitter updates at UCLASoftball for all three contests. The Bruins will honor their 10 seniors prior to Sunday night’s game.
TICKET INFORMATION
Advance tickets for Saturday and Sunday's games are sold out, but advance tickets remain available for Friday's game here. All games where advance tickets are sold out will still have approximately 100 tickets available on the day of the game at the Easton Stadium ticket booth, which will go on sale 2.5 hours before Saturday and Sunday games and 1.5 hours before Friday games. In the event of no shows for ticket holders, every effort will be made to allow fans to enter the stadium. All ticket sales and seats are general admission, first come first serve.
ON DECK
The Bruins travel to #23 Arizona State next weekend to close out the regular season, Thursday, May 7 at 5 p.m., Friday, May 8 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 9 at 5 p.m. All three games will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks. UCLA will learn where its postseason journey begins on Sunday, May 10 at 7 p.m. when the NCAA Selection Show airs on ESPNU.
BRUINS IN THE POLLS
UCLA remained at seventh for the second week in a row in both national polls, earning more points for the fourth straight week. The Bruins received 14 more points in this week’s USA Today/NFCA poll and 18 additional points in the ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings. UCLA was ranked second by the conference coaches, earning 60 points and four first-place votes, settling one point behind league favorite Oregon.
TEAM TIDBITS
UCLA has scored at least five runs in each of its victories during its 10-game winning streak to improve to 37-0 when crossing that threshold ... the Bruins had been winless (0-8) when allowing five runs or more, but their potent offense has seen them win their last two on those occasions, giving up five to California on April 19 and six last Sunday at Oregon State ... UCLA is in the midst of its second double-figure winning streak this season. The Bruins won 15 straight from Feb. 28-March 22 ... UCLA is 18-1 when scoring in the first inning and 31-1 when scoring first, with the only loss coming against Texas A&M (Feb. 7) ... the Bruins are 33-1 when up after four innings and 27-1 after five, with the lone loss coming to Oregon on April 4 ... UCLA is 22-1 when it doesn’t commit an error. The Bruins have made just 10 errors in Pac-12 play for a .980 fielding percentage, the best among teams during league action ... UCLA is 28-3 when hitting a home run, leaving the yard in nine of 10 games during its win streak ... of the Bruins’ 55 homers, 46 have come with one or two outs. A total of 24 of the 55 have been with two outs ... UCLA has posted 17 mercy-rule wins, tying a school record with five in a row from April 8-17 ... the Bruins have outscored their opponents 115-18 in the fifth (51-12) and sixth (64-6) innings ... UCLA recorded the program’s 1,700th victory against Southern Utah on Feb. 28.
PLAYER PIECES
Senior Ally Carda has six double-figure strikeout games this year and 13 for her career, tying personal bests with 14 against UC Davis (March 7), #13 Baylor (March 10) and #1 Oregon (April 3), adding 11-K contests versus Boise State (Feb. 15), Northwestern (March 1) and CSUN (March 26) ... Carda is also pretty good at helping her own cause. She has a home run in three of her last four Pac-12 series’, including a two-run homer at Oregon State last Saturday and a grand slam on April 11 at Stanford, and has reached base in 26 of 29 ... sophomore Gabrielle Maurice is in the midst of her second nine-game hitting streak of the season. Her current streak, which began on April 10, has seen her bat .542 (13-for-24) with two homers, eight RBI, six walks, 10 runs and four steals. Maurice went 4-for-9 (.444) with five RBI at Oregon State, hitting a two-run homer on Sunday and a three-run shot on Monday ... junior Brittany Moeai reached base in a career-best 14 straight contests from March 14-April 18. During that stretch, she batted .419 (13-for-31) with a homer, 10 RBI and seven walks ... freshman Kylee Perez has at least one hit in 30 of the 43 games she has appeared in the starting nine. She went 4-for-8 (.500) against Cal, producing a pair of two-hit games in the last two contests to give her 13 on the season ... senior Stephany LaRosa has been stellar defensively both behind the plate and at first, having gone 323 straight chances without making an error. At the plate, she has hits in eight of her last nine games, producing a .593 (16-for-27) batting average, five homers and 14 RBI. Six of LaRosa’s 11 homers have come during April, including one in each of the last four Pac-12 series’ ... junior Mysha Sataraka had just 13 official at-bats during 10 games in April, but she made them count, producing six hits, four RBI and five runs scored. She also drew two walks and was hit once to post a .529 on base percentage ... freshman Johanna Grauer has wins in three of her last four appearances against Stanford (April 12), California (April 19) and Oregon State (Monday), striking out eight in 13 1/3 innings. In her other outing in the last four, she tossed three scoreless innings of relief with one strikeout on Saturday at OSU ... freshman Selina Ta'amilo has allowed just three earned runs in 30 innings (0.70 ERA) in 16 relief appearances, striking out 28 and recording two wins and three saves. Her third save, which is tied for the team lead, came against California with a pair of scoreless frames on April 19 ... senior Gracie Goulder has reached base in 10 of her last 11 games, producing hits in five of them and walks in eight. She also has RBI in five of those contests, belting a three-run homer on April 17 against California ... junior Allexis Bennett has hits in 42 of 49 games and has recorded hitting streaks of 11, 11 and nine this season. She has a great history in Pac-12 contests, recording a .437 (80-for-183) batting average and 22 stolen bases in 63 career conference games. Bennett had two more two-hit games at Oregon State to give her a team-best 22 on the season ... freshman Maddy Jelenicki has reached base in 10 of her last 14 games, recording seven RBI and six walks. Defensively, Jelenicki has yet to make an error in 145 chances at first base and right field ... sophomore Delaney Spaulding has prospered since moving up to the leadoff spot of the lineup starting with the Cal series. In her last six games, she is batting .524 (11-for-21) with five homers, 11 RBI and 12 runs. Spaulding had eight hits in 12 at-bats (.667) in the OSU series, producing the first two-homer game of her career on Sunday. After going all of February without a homer, Spaulding hit six homers in March before topping that with seven in April.
THREE FOR AC3: CARDA PAC-12 PITCHER OF THE WEEK
For the third time this season, senior Ally Carda was named Pac-12 Conference Pitcher of the Week, earning the honor for the sixth time in her career on April 20.
Carda has earned Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week accolades three times in each of the last two seasons, with her six awards tying her with B’Ann Burns for the third-most Pitcher weekly honors at UCLA and trailing only Keira Goerl (11) and Anjelica Selden (10).
Carda received her first two awards this season in back-to-back weeks on March 9 and 16 to become the first Bruin since Selden (2006) to earn consecutive weekly honors from the conference. It is the 61st Pac-10/12 Pitcher of the Week award for UCLA.
The senior pitched back-to-back, complete-game wins in the first two contests of a series sweep of #18 California, posting her 19th and 20th victories of the year and striking out 15 in 12 2/3 innings.
BENNETT AND CARDA FINALISTS FOR USA SOFTBALL POY
Senior Ally Carda and junior Allexis Bennett have both been named finalists for the 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, as announced by ASA/USA Softball on April 8.
In its 14th 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.
Due to a tie, 26 individuals have been named finalists. The group is comprised of 12 seniors, 11 juniors, two sophomores and one freshman, representing 19 NCAA Division I schools and nine conferences. UCLA is among seven schools with two players represented on the list.
The Top 10 finalists will be announced on May 6 and the Top Three finalists will be announced on May 20. On May 26, prior to the start of the 2015 NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed.
BRUINS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS (THROUGH 4/26)
Player Category Rank Total
Team
On Base Percentage 3 .468
Doubles T-3 89
Batting Average 4 .366
Runs Per Game 7 7.83
Slugging Percentage 14 .586
Earned Run Average 21 2.30
Triples T-32 12
Double Plays Turned T-34 20
Home Runs T-35 53
Fielding Percentage 49 .968
Ally Carda
Shutouts T-9 8
Hits Allowed Per 7 Innings 14 4.23
Strikeouts T-18 227
Walks (Offense) T-18 39
Wins T-20 22
Saves T-34 3
Earned Run Average 44 1.99
Delaney Spaulding
Doubles T-14 17
Runs Scored T-26 53
Sacrifice Flies T-28 4
Sacrifice Hits T-29 11
Runs Batted In T-33 54
Slugging Percentage 48 .801
Allexis Bennett
Batting Average 4 .511
On Base Percentage 50 .527
Kylee Perez
Toughest to Strikeout 30 24.0 AB
Johanna Grauer
Saves T-34 3
Selina Ta'amilo
Saves T-34 3
Stephany LaRosa
Triples T-39 4
Gabrielle Maurice
On Base Percentage 41 .536
SCOUTING THE ARIZONA WILDCATS
Arizona comes into this weekend’s series with a 37-12 record and a 12-6 mark in Pac-12 play, coming off a home sweep against Stanford. The Wildcats have also swept Oregon State, won 2-of-3 against California and Washington and lost 2-of-3 to Arizona State and Utah. Arizona is batting .371 as a team with 87 home runs and 47 stolen bases, averaging 8.4 runs per game. Three players are hitting above .400, led by senior Kellie Fox’s .407 average with 12 homers and 55 RBI. Sophomore Mandie Perez is second (.405), while senior Hallie Wilson is third at .403 with 11 homers and 44 RBI. Senior Chelsea Goodacre is first in homers (21) and RBI (76), while sophomore Katiyana Mauga is second in both categories (20, 63). In the circle, sophomore Michelle Floyd and freshman Trish Parks have started 44 of 49 games. Floyd is 18-7 with a 3.27 earned run average and 118 strikeouts in 150 innings, while Parks is 13-5 with a 4.17 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 99 innings.
BRUINS VERSUS WILDCATS
The Bruins have won five in a row and eight of 10 against Arizona to improve their series lead to 78-55. UCLA swept the Wildcats at home last season (March 15-17), winning 1-0, 8-4 and 2-0. The Bruins are 41-21 all-time at Easton Stadium against the Wildcats, winning six of the last seven matchups in Westwood.
Ally Carda has been named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award for college softball, as announced on April 7. #VoteForAlly
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as NCAA Division I seniors and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The 10 finalists were chosen by national media from the list of 30 candidates announced in March, which included Carda’s teammate Stephany LaRosa. Nationwide fan voting began on Tuesday to help select the winner and fans are encouraged to submit votes online through May 11. Fan votes will be combined with those of the media and Division I head coaches to determine the winners. The Senior CLASS Award recipient for softball will be announced during the NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.