No. 2 UCLA softball holds off Cal State Fullerton to win

Freshman outfielder Jelly Felix’s childhood dream of playing for the UCLA softball team has already become a reality.

Now, she’s going for more.

In UCLA’s 5-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Thursday night, Felix played like an established veteran. Her three-run home run in the top of the second inning turned a 1-0 UCLA deficit into a lead that it would never relinquish.

Not only did Felix bring the UCLA team into the lead, her play also catapulted herself into a starting role for future games. While her start on Thursday was only her 12th of the season, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said that Felix had “absolutely” played herself into a starting position for the Bruins in their upcoming games.

Even though Felix’s home run was in the top of the second inning, it was a pivotal play in the game. The Bruins had gotten off to a rocky start, allowing Fullerton to hit a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first inning.

“Fullerton got to throw the first punch tonight,” Inouye-Perez said. “It put us behind right off the bat. … But we came back and the way that we responded, it’s just impressive.”

Felix provided the momentum boost, and her teammates would fight off several Cal State Fullerton rallies to maintain the lead.

The score would remain 3-1 until the top of the sixth, when UCLA added on two more insurance runs.

Then, in the bottom of the seventh and final inning, Fullerton gave UCLA arguably its best punch of the night. Fullerton’s first two batters in the inning reached base. Then, the third Fullerton batter had an RBI single to cut UCLA’s lead to 5-2 with nobody out.

But junior pitcher Ally Carda worked her way out of the jam. She struck out the next Fullerton batter and would retire the next two batters after that.

“A lot of it is my teammates,” Carda said. “Just having them constantly talk behind me, and I know that they have my back so I can just go for it.”

The win brought No. 3 UCLA’s record to 35-4, while it dropped Fullerton’s record to 23-15.

Next for UCLA is a weekend bereft of games. The bye weekend will be the first free weekend that the Bruins have had since the weekend of Feb. 28.

With UCLA being halfway through its Pac-12 season, Inouye-Perez believes it is a good time for a rest and a restart.

“I’m actually giving them the (weekend) off to be honest,” Inouye-Perez said. “At this point, we have to get everyone fresh and healthy.”

While the weekend may be considered “off,” UCLA players will take the time to focus on personal improvement.

“You know the game never really takes a day off,” said sophomore catcher Brittany Moeai. “So I’m pretty sure all of us are going to get our reps in individually seeing that we are not gonna see each other as a team this weekend.”