UCLA slams Riverside with double no-hitters

  DANIEL WONG/ Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sophomore pitcher
Claire Sua had stellar pitching against UCR in the
first game of a doubleheader. UCLA d. UCR 14-0,
6-0

By Scott Bair
Daily Bruin Reporter

Only in a UCLA softball game can a no-hitter be a
disappointment.

Only in the top-ranked 16-0 UCLA softball program can pitcher
Keira Goerl punch-out a career-high 13 strikeouts in seven no-hit
innings in the back end of a UC Riverside doubleheader on Wednesday
at Easton Stadium and not get the game ball.

“I tip my cap to Keira for throwing the no-hitter, but her
pitching efficiency per batter was terrible,” UCLA head coach
Sue Enquist said. “She has shown such brilliance in her
career here that I hold a very high standard for her and she has to
understand that the standard is expected every day.”

Goerl allowed three walks over seven innings of work in the 6-0
victory, but the first four outs were the hardest. She walked two
batters in the first and one in the second inning, as she got into
many three ball counts and could not put the Highlanders (3-13)
away in the dominant fashion that she normally does.

“My game plan didn’t work at the beginning of the
game,” Goerl said. “I mean, the no-hitter is good, but
walking batters is never alright when you pitch for this
team.”

Despite this fact, Goerl coasted through the seventh without
incident.

But the fact that the UCLA offense allowed the game to go into
the seventh was another cause for concern.

UCLA had more than one opportunity to close the door on UCR and
invoke the eight-run mercy rule.

The Bruins did enact the mercy rule in the first game, winning
by a score of 14-0.

Sophomore Claire Sua led the way in the first game, as she
pitched a shutout in her first career win and added one of the two
Bruin home runs.

“I hadn’t started in a while, so I wanted to get
ahead early and keep them off balance,” Sua said.

The Bruin defense played well in the afternoon’s first
victory, but Enquist was more concerned with the second.

She kept the players in an extended post-game meeting to make
the players aware of her displeasure.

“We were playing to our level of competition and that is
unacceptable,” Enquist said.

“If they play like this against a team in the Pac-10,
they’re going to get embarrassed.”