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No. 16 UCLA softball splits a pair with No. 15 Stanford

Freshman third baseman Stephany LaRosa connects for a home run against Stanford, one of three home runs she hit in Tuesday’s two games.

Behind the Score:

2
Leads blown by UCLA in game one

13
Home runs in Tuesday's games

3
Consecutive losses by Jessica Hall

By Tyler Drohan

April 11, 2012 2:30 a.m.

Having lost four straight games, the UCLA softball team desperately needed a win on Tuesday night at home.

Fortunately for the No. 16 Bruins, they got two chances to do just that.

Against visiting No. 15 Stanford, UCLA lost two leads in game one and eventually lost 11-9 in the first game of their Pac-12 conference doubleheader.

Freshman third baseman Stephany LaRosa made sure UCLA’s slide stopped at five games.

The freshman hit three home runs and tallied nine runs batted in on the night, and it was her two out, two-run single to right field that clinched a 12-4 win in five innings for the Bruins in the second game.

“It’s more pride,” LaRosa said of her performance coming on the heels of a sweep over the weekend at Arizona State. “You come out here and you try to represent UCLA, so you step out on the field with a little more vengeance after a sweep like that.”

LaRosa hit four-for-five with two homers and five RBI’s in the first game. The Bruins blew two leads in the first game and failed to rally late in the loss.

UCLA fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, but LaRosa answered with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to give UCLA a 2-1 lead.

Junior right fielder B.B. Bates added a solo shot to make it 3-1 after one inning.

“Once the other team punches and they score a few runs, it’s our job to punch back,” LaRosa said.

With the split, UCLA is now 26-11 overall and 3-5 in the Pac-12 conference. Stanford (29-11, 3-8) scored three runs in the top of the fourth to cut UCLA’s lead to one with the score 5-4.

Senior utility Andrea Harrison answered with a three-run home run to deep left-center field that doubled the Bruins lead to 8-4.

“I was trying to go opposite field,” Harrison said of her home run.

“… I told myself to just let it get really deep in the zone and shorten up and it went out.”

After redshirt senior outfielder Katie Schroeder’s two out, RBI double extended the UCLA lead to 10-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning, LaRosa had the opportunity to close out the game.

LaRosa followed with a walk-off single to the right-field line, allowing the Bruins to mercy rule the visiting Cardinal.

“She’s a gamer,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez of LaRosa. “There’s people that love to be in that situation, that love the pressure and her expectations that she has of herself are higher than anybody can ever put on her.”

UCLA and Stanford will conclude their series today at Easton Stadium at noon. Next week, following today’s game against Stanford, UCLA will play a road series against Washington.

“For me, it’s every game right now, we’re literally battling ourselves,” Inouye-Perez said of the Bruins. “Wins, losses, streaks, slides whatever you want to call it, we’re battling the game.”

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Tyler Drohan
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