Softball maintains high expectations as defending champions

Correction: The original version of this headline contained a misspelling.

UCLA softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez is doing something right to maintain the level of expectation for her team.

Even with the departures of Megan Langenfeld, Julie Burney, Kaila Shull and Whitney Baker to graduation, the Bruins were awarded the coveted task to live up to a preseason No. 1 ranking.

With those four members accounting for nearly half of the team’s home run production last year, expectations of a drop-off in offensive production at the outset of the season were not far-fetched.

Yet this past weekend, the Bruins (5-0) could seemingly do no wrong.

The defending national champions forced three of the five matches to end by mercy rule and slugged 11 home runs to outscore their opponents by a combined 53-run margin.

“Our team has a lot of belief in each other,” said senior first baseman Amy Crawford, who hit the first home run of her career this weekend.

“We know that whether starter or non-starter, anyone can jump in ““ we don’t skip a beat. We are really confident that anyone can step up at any moment.”

This confidence was seen in the play of the four freshmen: Kellie Fox, Jessica Hall, Talee Snow and Alyssa Tiumalu, who all saw significant playing time over the weekend.

And from the looks of it, the quartet will prove to be valuable position players down the line for the Bruins, who will be in Las Vegas from Friday to Sunday for the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic.

Hall dominated in the circle over the weekend, allowing just one earned run and striking out 13 in 12 innings of work.

“All four of the freshmen came in and contributed in their own way, but Jessica Hall did an outstanding job of stepping into a situation of continuing to dominate (since high school) as a pitcher,” Inouye-Perez said after Sunday’s game against San Diego State. “To do that on this stage in her first weekend and just being lights out as a pitcher and produce at the plate says a lot about her future career.”

Starting Friday, the Bruins will embark on a series of road trips, as they don’t play at home again until March 21.

“We are going to take the next five weekends and come together and really unite as a team, knowing that we have a lot to learn about ourselves, let alone our opponents,” Inouye-Perez said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to pull together.”

First up for UCLA in the Desert Classic is a Friday morning game against Southern Illinois Edwardsville (2-2), which plays in the Missouri Valley Conference, followed by an afternoon contest against Arkansas (3-2).

The Bruins then take on Utah (3-2) on Saturday in a preview of two future Pac-12 teams before facing Portland State (3-3) afterward.

They then conclude their weekend with a rematch against Utah State (1-4), a team that UCLA dominated 19-0 in its season opener.

Indeed, the explosion in offensive production last week has given the Bruins a boost in confidence, but they are wary to not live in the shadows of the previous season’s exploits.

“It’s good to see the team back out there,” junior left fielder Andrea Harrison said. “It’s our turn to kind of put a new name and a new title to this season.”

Roster update
With early-season injuries plaguing them, the Bruins have yet to play at full strength, despite the 5-0 start.

Senior shortstop Monica Harrison and junior pitcher Aleah Macon are both out with upper-body injuries. Harrison ““ the older sister of Andrea Harrison ““ remains out indefinitely, while Macon is listed as week-to-week.

Redshirt junior right fielder Samantha Camuso is currently in rehab after having hip surgery during the preseason, while junior catcher Dani Yudin injured her right leg during the game against Central Florida last week. Both players are day-to-day.

Charlotte Dolan, last season’s freshman backup catcher, is no longer with the team for undisclosed reasons.

Graceful award
The dedication and efforts of one senior Bruin has paid off, in quite the literal fashion.

Grace Murray has been awarded the NCAA Women’s Enhancement Postgraduate Scholarship for Careers in Athletics, it was announced Wednesday. She will receive a one-year award of $6,000 for full-time graduate studies.

Primarily a pinch runner on the team, Murray has so far been named to the honor roll every single year as a student at UCLA.
She is currently majoring in psychology and minoring in education, and plans on pursuing a career as an athletic director.