UCLA softball looks to continue its perfect record at home against Loyola Marymount in the final non-conference game of the season
Senior pitcher Donna Kerr and the No. 7 Bruins take on the Loyola Marymount Lions at Easton Stadium today, where UCLA is undefeated so far this year.
Loyola Marymount
Today, 2 p.m.
Easton Stadium
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By Manny Redruello
April 6, 2011 2:07 a.m.
The UCLA softball team will make up a game today against Loyola Marymount that was rescheduled because of inclement weather earlier in the season.
The Bruins (26-5, 3-0 Pac-10) were originally scheduled to host the Lions (16-19) on March 27. The postponement was due to rain, however, and the game will now be played at 2 p.m. at Easton Stadium.
The game against the Lions is situated between the Bruins’ first two weekends of conference play and marks the only non-conference opponent on the Bruins’ schedule until the postseason.
Junior left fielder and first baseman Andrea Harrison said she felt that having a game scheduled in the middle of the week will aid her team by breaking up the routine of weekend conference play.
“I think it definitely makes the team a little more focused, because we don’t have to wait until Friday to play again,” Harrison said. “We get to have another competitor come in here, get some more swings, see some more live pitching and just have another chance for us to do great things.”
Over the past weekend in their last series, the Bruins started slow, falling behind to Oregon State in two of the three games. But UCLA came back to win both games, not to mention sweep the series.
Although coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said that it was not a tremendous concern, she did mention that the team needs to work on starting games with more focus.
“Our goal was to score first, score early and score often, and then finish out a ball game late in the game,” Inouye-Perez said. “When we let them throw punches first, then defensively that’s telling me that (our players) are not ready to compete in that first inning.”
Last year, the Bruins beat the Lions twice, winning both games by a combined score of 13-2. Although the Lions are not Pac-10 opponents, they can expect to get the best from the Bruins this afternoon.
“No matter who we’re playing, our goal is to respect the game, show up and execute some of the little things we’ve been practicing on,” Inouye-Perez said.
