Softball team triumphs over Missouri 2-0 to win Classic

The first four games of the Easton Classic looked nothing like
the championship game.

After outscoring their opponents 32-1 the rest of the weekend,
the No. 1 Bruins beat Missouri 2-0 in Sunday’s final, winning
all five games they had played in the UCLA-hosted tournament.

The Bruins (22-1) had only two hits, both infield singles.

“I had four goals for us,” softball head coach Sue
Enquist said. “Not to have a let down, not to swing outside
of the strike zone, to have solid defense, and to be mentally
strong. We only did one of the four today.”

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, when
right fielder Caitlin Benyi got an infield hit. After a
fielder’s choice by Stephanie Ramos, Tairia Mims hit a ball
that was dropped by the left fielder, putting runners on second and
third.

On the next play, Ramos scored on a passed ball and then the
throw from the catcher to home went wild, allowing Mims to
score.

In the top of the fifth, UCLA pitcher Keira Goerl hit three
consecutive batters, but got out of the inning without allowing a
run.

“I was a little rough,” Goerl said. “My
pitches were breaking a little bit too much.”

Goerl ended up throwing a complete-game one hitter, her ninth of
the season.

The Bruins faced Boston College and Missouri once each on Friday
and Saturday.

Friday’s first game featured the best pitching performance
of the year so far by a UCLA pitcher. But it was not the
All-American Goerl who pitched a gem. It was the Bruins’ No.
2 starter, freshman Michelle Turner, dominating the opposition.

Turner pitched 4 2/3 perfect innings against Boston College,
until Eagles’ center fielder Kim Hopkin laced a 3-2 pitch
into center field breaking up the bid for the perfect game.

“It was definitely disappointing, but all in all it was a
really good day and it will make me want it even more,”
Turner said.

The hit did not faze Turner as she retired Boston
College’s Lisa Field on a grounder to third keeping the
one-hitter intact as the Bruins defeated the Eagle 9-0 in 5
innings.

Pitching was not the only highlight of Friday’s games for
UCLA as the Bruins hit six home runs over two games, two each by
Mims and Claire Sua. The Bruins would use this power surge and a
Goerl one-hitter of the year, to run-rule the Missouri Tigers 8-0
in 5 innings.

A Saturday 9 a.m. start against Missouri did not slow down UCLA
at all, as they used four stolen bases and nine singles to easily
defeat the Tigers 5-0. Goerl once again pitched a one-hitter.

Saturday’s game against Boston College was the first close
game of the weekend for the Bruins ““ that is until the fifth
inning.  Through four innings, Eagles pitcher Kim Ryan
scattered five hits and five walks, holding the Bruins to a 2-1
lead. But then the floodgates opened, due partly to an error by
Ryan.

With no outs and Mims on first, Sua hit a high pop-up that
Boston College first baseman Lisa Fischer dropped. Ryan picked up
the ball and had an easy force play at second base, but she
overthrew it into the outfield.

The Bruins would take full advantage of this miscue as the next
six batters reached base and bring 12 batters to the plate in the
inning as UCLA scored eight runs that inning to put the game out of
reach. Once again the mercy rule applied in five innings with a
score of 10-1.