NCAA Super Regional series format to challenge UCLA’s pitching
Senior pitcher Ally Carda looks for redemption this upcoming weekend in the NCAA Super Regional after losing in that round last year. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin)
By David Gottlieb
May 22, 2015 12:59 a.m.
This weekend, UCLA softball will get a shot at a do-over as the Bruins enter the NCAA Super Regional for the second straight year.
Last year, the Bruins’ season ended on the third game of a best-of-three set, when they fell to the lower-seeded Kentucky Wildcats at home. This year, No. 7-seeded UCLA (48-10) will return to Easton Stadium to take on No. 10-seeded Missouri in another best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to the first round of the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
“I guess it adds fuel to the fire. We were here last year, we won game one, and whatever happened, happened,” said sophomore shortstop Delaney Spaulding. “We need to get past this and make it to Oklahoma City.”
This same format wore on senior pitcher Ally Carda last year. She pitched just well enough to win the first game, but surrendered four earned runs on 0.1 innings pitched in game two and three runs on 3.2 innings pitched in game three. The Bruins lost both games, sealing UCLA’s fate in 2014.
The Bruins only play one team this weekend, as opposed to the three different teams they played last weekend in the NCAA Regional. This means that if the Bruins stick with Carda for every inning like they did last weekend, the Tigers’ hitters will get a chance to see Carda multiple times and possibly make adjustments.
Despite last year’s performance and the challenges that the format presents, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said she is not concerned about hitters seeing Carda multiple times.
“Ally can go head to head with anyone in the country,” Inouye-Perez said. “I think the most important thing is that Ally is in her senior year. She’s had a great deal of experience to be able to throw back-to-back games and even coming into a third game.”
In what could possibly be her last series as a Bruin, Carda said she has set the bar high in her preparation.
“I’m just going to expect to pitch and play as much as I did last weekend, just to prepare myself mentally and physically,” Carda said. “If I have to be out there, then I’m going to do everything I can. If not, then I hope the other pitchers get it done.”
These two teams do have a little bit of history this year: an 8-0 UCLA win on Feb. 20.
“That time, we were in a great tournament competing against a lot of top teams,” Inouye-Perez said. “That night, it was one game, and we showed up and we played really great softball. That’s our plan: to be able to do it again.”
On the offensive side, Inouye-Perez confirmed that she will be sticking with the same starting lineup she used in all three NCAA Regional games.
“We’re getting comfortable with our lineup, and I think we’re finally settling in,” said Spaulding, who will be leading off. “We’re in the Super Regionals now; we’re in the core of our season, so I think that it’s really good that we’re getting comfortable.”
Inouye-Perez said that she is looking forward to the series because her team has more NCAA Super Regional experience than they did last year, and she expects her team will be more mentally prepared for the series.
“Just game one. We gotta get after game one,” Inouye-Perez said. “That’s the big one. Our goal is to get in after two games this weekend. That’s our plan.”
