A quality team is determined not just by wins and losses, but by the ability to bounce back.
And the Bruins have the opportunity to respond.
After dropping its first Big Ten series of the season to Nebraska, No. 9 UCLA softball (29-5, 10-2 Big Ten) will face Hawaiʻi (16-14, 8-4 Big West) on Thursday and Indiana (27-7, 7-2 Big Ten) in a series from Friday through Sunday at Easton Stadium.
The Westwood squad is hitting .393 this season, but that mark was below .280 across all three games against Nebraska. Senior utility Megan Grant, who leads the team with a .532 clip, was held to just three hits across the weekend.
After the squad dropped the first game 4-1, it responded with a 6-5 victory, powered by home runs from senior infielder Jordan Woolery and freshman utility Jolyna Lamar.
“In that at-bat, I was sticking to the plan that our coaches provide for us,” Lamar said. “They really work hard on preparing us for each at-bat each game. So I was sticking to their plan and being committed to my zone.”
The series concluded with Nebraska’s 8-4 victory Sunday, where it scored six runs in the second inning off four home runs. The Bruins rotated through four of their pitchers and allowed 12 hits, almost double their 6.6 average.
Pitchers freshman Natalie Cable and senior Taylor Tinsley pitched 2.1 and two innings, respectively, and allowed just two combined runs Sunday.
“I’m really proud of how we kind of showed up, we did make adjustments, they might have been a little too late in the game, but we really did show up as an offense at the end,” said sophomore outfielder Rylee Slimp. “We could have done a little bit more, but we faced some pretty good pitchers, so I’m proud of how we showed up.”
These were UCLA’s first losses since the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational in February, where the team dropped three games to then-No. 3 Tennessee and then-No. 6 Florida State. The Bruins followed with a 22-game win streak.
Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez’s squad now has the ability to rebound after another losing weekend.
The Bruins will first face the Rainbow Wahine, who are riding a five-game win streak.
Hawaiʻi hits at a .266 clip and has recorded 202 hits and 22 home runs, while UCLA has notched 354 hits and 104 home runs. The Rainbow Wahine’s top two pitchers, Hannah Pitts and Taryn Irimata, have allowed 146 hits combined.
“It doesn’t change who we’re playing or the time of the year, we’re trying to find consistency,” Inouye-Perez said. “And that’s the best part about the sport – it provides different opportunities, and things go in different ways, but it doesn’t make you flip or change or do something different.”
After the Hawaiʻi matchup, the squad will continue conference play against Indiana. The Hoosiers sit in fourth place in the Big Ten, just one spot behind the Bruins. The squad dropped one game against Rutgers, who UCLA swept from March 21 to March 23. The Hoosiers have two starters batting over .400, while the Bruins boast four hitters above that threshold – including Grant and Woolery, who both hit above .500.
Ten different Bruins have hit a home run this season, with four players recording double-digit marks. Lamar, Woolery and Slimp hammered four-baggers in back-to-back series against Rutgers and Nebraska.
“There’s different people that step up,” Inouye-Perez said. “There’s different situations, and as a result, we play as a team. Everyone’s relied upon to be able to step up and be able to take advantage of any opportunity they get.”
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