Softball victorious against Beavers in three-game sweep
Sophomore shortstop Delaney Spaulding both scored and knocked in as many runs as Oregon State scored as a team – two – on Monday’s matchup. (Jintak Han/Daily Bruin)
By David Gottlieb
April 28, 2015 1:01 a.m.
UCLA finished up a three-game sweep of Oregon State with a win Monday night, priming itself for the home stretch, and a shot at the Pac-12 championship in the process.
The No. 7 Bruins (41-8, 15-3 Pac-12) beat the Beavers (25-23, 5-16) by a score of 6-2 Monday, extending their win streak to 10 games. With the sweep, UCLA pulls to just one game back of Pac-12-leading Oregon (41-5, 16-2). Each team only has six conference games left before the NCAA Regional begins.
“Finishing off a weekend and a sweep is always outstanding,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “It keeps you in the running to even have an opportunity to win the Pac-12. So for right now, we’re really focusing on our game. We got a lot of great things accomplished this weekend. We walk away really excited about what’s next.”
Freshman pitcher Johanna Grauer led her team to the win Monday night, allowing one run over five innings, while striking out two and walking only one. The only extra-base hit she allowed, a triple, was the result of a misplay.
“I thought I did a really good job of mixing speeds and working ahead and staying in control,” Grauer said. “It’s really great having a good defense behind me to rely on so I don’t have to worry about getting a strikeout every time. Just working and getting groundouts is really good.”
The team’s offense got another huge boost from sophomore shortstop Delaney Spaulding on Monday night. Spaulding, who hit two home runs Sunday, followed up with another great performance Monday, going 3-for-4 with a home run and a triple, scoring twice and knocking in two.
“I have a different mindset because I moved into the leadoff position,” Spaulding said. “I focused hard on my ability to get on base, and I think that’s helped tremendously with myself and it just allows everyone else in the bottom of the order, behind me, to get me in. … I’m staring at the softball, and it looks like a beach ball to me.”
UCLA did a lot of little things right in this game, including a first-inning sacrifice bunt by freshman utility Kylee Perez, two impressive double plays and senior catcher Stephany LaRosa taking an extra base on a throw that should have been cut off.
“Those are the things we kind of highlight. There were a lot of great things first day, the second day and the third day, playing the game one inning at a time,” Inouye-Perez said. “Just a lot of great things that happened today.”
UCLA starts up a rivalry match this weekend at home against No. 19 Arizona.
