Softball stands its ground against BYU, Liberty with comeback victories

Despite slow starts, the Bruins pulled out the come-from-behind victories.

No. 2 UCLA softball (20-1) defeated BYU (10-11) and Liberty (15-9) at home by scores of 8-2 and 4-3, respectively. The Bruins scored eight of their 12 runs in the fifth inning or later in the two comebacks.

“A big part of it is how this team is impressive is in how they can fail, and come right back,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “They’re resilient Bruins.”

UCLA trailed initially in its first game against BYU, as redshirt junior pitcher Rachel Garcia gave up a home run in the top of the second inning. But the Bruins responded one inning later with a home run by junior outfielder Bubba Nickles, followed by an RBI double for freshman catcher Colleen Sullivan to make it 2-1.

The Cougars would score again to tie the game in the top of the fifth after Garcia made a fielding error to let a base runner on, who then stole second and scored on a single in the next at bat.

But UCLA would take back the lead for good in the bottom of the inning, scoring six runs on five hits. Three singles would score the first run, followed by a triple by senior utility Zoe Shaw to score two more and an error to score one more. The inning was capped by a two-run home run by senior utility Taylor Pack – her second in as many days.

“I think the whole entire game we just knew we were going to be able to come back,” Pack said. “We know if someone doesn’t get it done the next person’s going to.”

Unlike in the BYU game, UCLA scored first in its game against Liberty on an RBI double by redshirt sophomore utility Aaliyah Jordan in the first inning.

But after sophomore pitcher Holly Azevedo got out of jams in the first and third, Liberty finally got to her in the third inning, scoring two runs on a single, double and fielding error. Garcia, who started the second game at first base, came back in to pitch at that point, giving up a run herself in the fourth inning to make it 3-1.

Though a single by Pack to score Garcia in the fourth inning and another solo home run from Nickles in the fifth helped the Bruins tie up the game at 3-3, the team squandered the opportunity to take the lead later in the fifth, getting into two rundowns to leave the bases loaded.

But UCLA would not be denied, as after Garcia got out of another jam in the seventh, she delivered the game-winning hit, doubling into right-center field to score Jordan for the walk-off 4-3 victory.

“Liberty’s a scrappy team, and they definitely came out to fight, and I think we threw punches back,” Garcia said. “Seeing stuff like that just gives everyone the confidence especially going into (Pac-12 play).”

In addition to recording the walk-off hit, Garcia finished the night with two wins in the circle, striking out 23 in 11 2/3 innings, including the last nine outs of the game against Liberty. She gave up just two earned runs on eight hits, throwing 199 pitches total.

The Bruins will head to Long Beach, California, for the second half of the UCLA/Long Beach State Invitational, facing Boston University and Long Beach State on Sunday.