Softball completes six-game sweep at Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament

Zero.

That’s the number of innings that UCLA softball trailed its opposition during this weekend’s Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament.

The No. 15 Bruins (23-5) were able to maintain their dominance in each of the six games they played, as they managed to score early and often. UCLA scored 13 first-inning runs and added 12 second-inning runs in its six-game sweep of Providence, Illinois and UC Davis. Overall, the Bruins’ margin of victory this weekend was 8.5 runs per game.

On Sunday afternoon, the Providence Friars were able to make some noise against the Bruins, but that noise came in the form of cheers in their dugout, as Bruin senior pitcher Ally Carda silenced their bats.

Carda’s shutout performance in the circle helped lead UCLA to an 8-0 win over Providence (1-8), and capped off the Bruins’ 6-0 weekend . This result brought the tournament full-circle for the Bruins, as they opened it with a defeat of the Friars by the final score of 7-1 on Friday night.

Sophomore infielder Delaney Spaulding helped power UCLA to its two wins over Providence, as she reached base five times and drove in five runs against the Friars.

“When you are in the zone, and when you are in a good place, it’s almost as if you can hit anything, whether it is rolling or whether it is ten feet over your head,” Spaulding said. “The ball does almost seem like it is a big beach ball and you can’t miss it. When you are in a good place, you definitely know it and can feel it.”

The Bruins outscored the Fighting Illini (8-15) 23-2 and the Aggies (9-13)18-2 during their respective two-game series, displaying a variety of ways of scoring on offense.

In their first game against the Illini, the Bruins hit three homers en route to a 14-0 victory in five innings. However, in the second game against Illinois, UCLA did not hit one ball out of the park. Instead, they relied on station-to-station softball to drive runs across the plate. And against the Aggies, the Bruins’ power re-emerged as they knocked four balls out of the park en route to 10-2 and 8-0 victories.

“We can score with the long ball, we can score with the short ball. We just have every single person’s (back). That is kind of our thing.” said freshmen utility Maddy Jelenicki. “It’s great when you have different methods of that (scoring), because you are not always going to hit the long ball.”

A standout performer in the circle for the Bruins this weekend, aside from Carda, was freshmen pitcher Selina Ta’amilo. Coming into this weekend’s set of games, Ta’amilo held a 1-1 pitching record. But in a span of three starts this weekend, she was able to pick up three victories to quadruple her season total to four.

“(Ta’amilo’s performance was) huge. We were down this weekend for our pitching staff as we had some hurt pitchers, so for her to just come out and do as good as she did was awesome,” Carda said. “I think that is good for her and the team’s confidence just knowing that she can get out there and get after it.”

UCLA continues its homestand with one game against No. 9 Baylor Tuesday, before beginning Pac-12 play over the weekend against Utah.