The Bruins had just dropped their first series in Seattle since 2010.
However, their Sunday response, led by a redshirt senior and a freshman, provided a dominant reset – even entering their names in the record books.
“We were walking to the game today, and I was with Maya (shortstop Maya Brady) and with KT (pitcher/outfielder Kaitlyn Terry), and I said, ‘You know what’s really unique about this? You guys shouldn’t be playing together,’” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez.
But play together the first-year and fifth-year did.
Behind two Brady home runs – launching her into third all-time for Bruins’ batters – and a complete game shutout from Terry – the first from a freshman pitcher against a top-10 team since Rachel Garcia in 2017 – No. 13 UCLA softball (18-8, 4-2 Pac-12) defeated No. 9 Washington (22-5, 6-3) by a score of 6-0 to salvage the weekend in the Pacific Northwest after losses on Friday and Saturday.
“What I love best is being able to share those moments of how there’s things that aren’t meant to be, but they happen for a reason,” Inouye-Perez said. “And for their ability to be able to play together – these are things that I love to document.”
Terry also featured in the batting order for the first time this season, appearing as the designated player Saturday. Inouye-Perez said trainers cleared her to swing a bat this weekend after a fall injury prevented her from hitting.
The story differed earlier in the weekend, as the Bruins dropped consecutive games against the Huskies by 6-5 and 6-4 scores on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
On Friday, down 4-0, after sophomore pitcher Taylor Tinsley struggled through the first, the offense responded, putting three up in the second and third innings behind senior utility Thessa Malau’ulu’s double and a two-run homer from redshirt senior catcher Sharlize Palacios.
By the seventh, the Bruins were down by two heading into their final at-bats. While graduate student outfielder Jadelyn Allchin brought home one run with a sacrifice fly against her former team, it was all her new team could muster, as sophomore utility Megan Grant struck out with runners on the corners to end the game.
The series marked Allchin’s first return to Seattle since she transferred to UCLA for her graduate season.
“Obviously (I had) just mixed emotions going into it,” Allchin said. “It’s like, okay, like I’ve seen them before, like, just get into my natural flow of things of what I really wanted to do.”
Saturday’s contest mirrored Friday’s nailbiter. Tinsley started in the circle and was once again rocked by Washington batters, allowing three runs in the first and another two in the fourth.
While a rally with the Bruins down five in the seventh attempted to equalize the contest – scoring three runs on two walks and a wild pitch – Inouye-Perez said it was not enough for “Bruin Magic” to take effect.
“There’s a belief that we can win down to the last pitch,” Inouye-Perez said. “Although the outcome hasn’t been as consistent as we’d like. … Washington didn’t walk away from any of those games feeling like they smashed UCLA. They definitely got the outcome, but we didn’t quit.”
Inouye-Perez added that the team headed into Sunday with a “reset” mindset that translated instantly.
Brady swatted an opposite-field home run in the second at-bat of the game to give the Bruins a lead – one they did not surrender behind Terry’s seven innings of scoreless 2-hit ball.
Securing her ninth win of the season, the two-way player faced only one batter above the minimum, moving her earned run average to 2.07.
After the Bruins scored one more in the fourth and another in the seventh, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year would go yard again in the last frame with a two-run blast, cementing her place as third all-time in Bruins’ home runs with 62, passing both Delaney Spaulding and Tairia Mims.
“To be in the record books and pass them on to my idols like Delaney, who I watched since she played travel ball, is just really cool,” Brady said. “I’m just very blessed and very thankful.”
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