After losing first game, UCLA softball wins ASU series 2-1
After popping out to end the game against Arizona State on Thursday, junior pitcher Ally Carda came back on Friday and hit a game-tying home run in the seventh inning and then a lead-changing home run in the ninth.
(Agnijita Kumar/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Matt Joye
May 12, 2014 2:31 a.m.
Like cracking open a safe, the UCLA softball team kept trying different combinations at the plate, attempting to figure out how to hit against one of the most dominant pitchers in the country.
After being shut out by Arizona State pitcher and Player of the Year candidate Dallas Escobedo on Thursday, the No. 2 Bruins did not just crack the safe – they broke it wide open. UCLA scored nine runs against Escobedo over the next two games of the series, and defeated No. 3 Arizona State by at least four runs in each game to win the series 2-1.
“The most impressive part of it is the team got stronger through the weekend and clearly they adjusted all the way to the end,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez
In the first game of the series on Thursday, Inouye-Perez said that the Bruins “did not adjust early enough” against Escobedo, a two-time All-American and the co-Most Outstanding Player of the 2011 Women’s College World Series. The Bruins failed to record a hit against Escobedo until the final inning, and were shut out for the first time all season.
“(Thursday) night kind of stunned us, because that wasn’t us,” Inouye-Perez said.
In Friday’s game, UCLA began the game against a different pitcher from ASU, and jumped out to an early 4-2 lead. But then, Escobedo came in and once again stymied the Bruin offense.
Escobedo retired each of the first 12 UCLA batters she faced, while the ASU offense rallied behind her to take a 5-4 lead entering the final inning. After Escobedo struck out the first two UCLA batters in the seventh inning, the Bruins’ lone Player of the Year candidate – junior pitcher Ally Carda – stepped to the plate.
If what’s past is prologue, UCLA’s prospects against Escobedo seemed bleak at that point in the series. Carda was hitless in her six at bats against Escobedo in the series, and the Bruins had collectively gone two for 36 against Escobedo, with only two singles.
But Carda made the necessary adjustments, and finally broke through against Escobedo. She parlayed a 2-1 count advantage into a solo home run over the left field fence to tie the game.
“I backed off the plate a little bit, to give myself a better chance of hitting the inside pitch,” Carda said.
Once Carda broke through against Escobedo, her teammates followed. The Bruins laced two singles in the next inning against her, and in the ninth inning, they finally exploded.
Carda began the Bruins’ four-run ninth inning with a two-run home run against Escobedo, giving UCLA a 7-5 lead. Then, sophomore third baseman Mysha Sataraka hit a two-run home run to further extend the lead.
“I think for all of us, once we finally made those adjustments, I think we realized we all can hit (Escobedo),” Sataraka said. “(That) kind of got the ball rolling, and everyone started clutching up together.”
The Bruins (48-6, 19-5 Pac-12) carried their momentum from Friday into Saturday, as they scored four more runs against Escobedo in the series finale, and won 9-2 against the Sun Devils (44-10-1, 15-7-1).
“(The series win against ASU) was very important,” Sataraka said. “It boosted us a lot, knowing that we could make adjustments at the plate and make adjustments on the field.”
Next stop: postseason
On Sunday, the NCAA softball tournament bracket was released, and UCLA was given the No. 3 overall seed. The Bruins will host a double-elimination regional round this weekend at Easton Stadium. The other teams in the regional are Long Beach State, Notre Dame and Southern Utah. UCLA’s first game of the regional will be against Southern Utah on Friday.
