Many people often just try to make it to the weekend.
But for the Bruins, midweek matchups are the highlight.
No. 8 UCLA softball (39-5, Big Ten 16-2) bested Cal Baptist (34-14, WAC 10-2) 13-6 at Easton Stadium on Tuesday and trounced Long Beach State (24-17, Big West 12-6) 27-9 at the LBSU Softball Complex on Wednesday.
The Bruins’ 27 runs Wednesday night marked a season-high and tied a program record for most runs in a single game.
UCLA opened with a rocky start at its Tuesday matchup. Senior pitcher Taylor Tinsley started for the Bruins, coming off her 20th win of the season against the Fighting Illini on April 10. After allowing three singles and throwing a wild pitch, a double from infielder Malachy Russell-Millen allowed the Lancers to take an early 4-0 lead.
“It’s just the game. You can call it sluggish, you can call it slow. We play seven innings for a reason,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “I told the team the most impressive part is that it doesn’t really matter what happens in the first inning. The ability to get stronger and make adjustments and find a way to win – that’s what this team is doing very well.”
Home runs from sophomore outfielder Rylee Slimp and senior infielder Jordan Woolery helped put the Bruins on the board in the bottom of the first. And with both pitchers holding their opponent scoreless in the second inning, the action picked up again in the top of the third when Rusell-Millen went deep to extend the Lancers’ lead to 6-2.
The Bruins immediately responded with runs of their own. Woolery hit her second four-bagger while redshirt junior catcher Alexis Ramirez also went yard with a runner on to cut the deficit to just one.
Woolery said that she has embraced her role as the offense’s kickstarter.
“It means a lot. Having Slimp and Megs (senior utility Megan Grant) set the tone, it makes it easy for me to do my job,” Woolery said. “When they have such great at-bats, I want to follow suit. It’s important to keep the tone going.”
A home run from freshman utility Jolyna Lamar evened the score at 6-6.
The score remained steady until the bottom of the sixth inning, when a double from Lamar and a single from sophomore infielder Kaniya Bragg added three more runs to the Bruins’ total.
Redshirt freshman infielder Aleena Garcia hammered a three-run blast over the left field fence to bring the Bruins’ total runs to 13. While in the circle, Tinsley did not forfeit another run, pitching the entire game and giving up six runs on six hits.
With a one-night recovery, UCLA made a trip down the Interstate 405 to face Long Beach State.
Grant started the action at the top of the first inning, logging a solo homer. A sacrifice fly from Ramirez and a double from Garcia put the Bruins up by three at the end of the first frame.
Woolery stepped up to the plate at the top of the second inning with the bases loaded, and the two-time NFCA All-American did not disappoint, homering on the third pitch she saw, which put the team up by seven.
The Beach did not go down without a fight, though, plating seven runs to tie the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the third. After the Beach held the Bruins scoreless in the fourth inning, they added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to take their first lead of the night.
But the Bruins did what they usually do best.
They relied on their bats.
After tying the game in the top of the fifth inning, the Bruins scored six and 12 runs in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. A walk from Slimp allowed Garcia to come home, and a grand slam from Bragg cleared the bases and put the Bruins up 15-9.
Junior utility Soo-Jin Berry homered to center field. Her first four-bagger of the season added two more runs. Berry said she has embraced her novel role on the team after transferring from Iowa last season, where she started every game across her two-year stint with the Hawkeyes.
“It’s a game. I can’t overthink anything,” Berry said. “I had a big role in Iowa, but also it was like a smaller team, but now everyone stars, and I have to be okay with living in the moment. If they need me, they need me, and that’s the role I accept.”
A double from Bragg, a grand slam from freshman infielder Bri Alejandre and a single from Slimp helped bring the Bruins’ total to 27 runs – four more than their previous season-high, which was set against Auburn on Feb. 19th.
“This program is the winningest in the history of the sport, creating a masterpiece today,” Inouye-Perez said. “The future, you have no control over, but be where your feet are. That’s what this program really focuses on. It’s not what just happened, but it’s how to get to the next pitch.”
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