UCLA softball wraps up Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic undefeated

The Bruins brought out the brooms over the weekend.

No. 6 UCLA softball (12-3) swept all five of its opponents at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Friday through Sunday, extending its undefeated streak in the tournament to four years after not competing in the event last year because of COVID-19. The Bruins’ pitchers gave up two total runs to secure the first three wins, while their offense clinched the final two victories by scoring a combined 14 runs.

UCLA kicked off the tournament Friday with a 3-0 victory over Iowa State, powered by a three-run rally in the sixth inning and a one-hit combined shutout delivered by graduate student pitcher Lauren Shaw and redshirt senior pitcher Holly Azevedo.

Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said the reason for the Bruins’ success in the circle is that each pitcher serves different looks.

“(Redshirt junior pitcher/first baseman Megan Faraimo) throws the ball a little bit more up, and Holly throws the ball down, and then you got a lefty in Lauren that throws in and out and has an offspeed,” Inouye-Perez said. “We do our best to put them in positions to be able to showcase their strengths.”

In part two of Friday’s doubleheader, Faraimo’s 12-strikeout, zero-walk outing propelled UCLA to a 2-1 victory over Texas Tech. The Bruins’ offense was carried by a second-inning home run from redshirt senior infielder Delanie Wisz, her first of the season, as well as an RBI squeeze bunt from freshman utility Savannah Pola in the following frame.

Faraimo entered the circle for the Bruins again Saturday, with UCLA earning a 2-1 victory in eight innings over No. 17 Tennessee. The redshirt junior’s 142 pitches against the Vols tied the career high she set against Northwestern on Feb. 18, while her career-best 18 strikeouts matched the mark for the most strikeouts thrown in a collegiate softball game this season.

Faraimo said she credits much of her record-breaking performance against Tennessee to Wisz, who sat behind home plate.

“I have to give it up to my catcher – Delanie behind the dish that game – she did a really good job calling pitches for me and framing up some balls,” Faraimo said. “I wouldn’t have been able to get those strikeouts without her, so I appreciate her a lot.”

Redshirt sophomore utility Maya Brady hit her first home run of the weekend in the matchup against Tennessee, a solo shot in the fourth. Pola drove in her second RBI sacrifice hit of the tournament, a walk-off sacrifice fly in the eighth.

UCLA’s bats came alive in the final two games of the series, beginning with back-to-back home runs from Brady and redshirt senior infielder Briana Perez in the first frame of its contest against Baylor on Saturday. Brady’s three-run blast and Perez’s solo shot gave the Bruins an early 4-0 lead against the Bears.

Azevedo started against Baylor, giving up four runs and dealing a career-high 12 strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings pitched. An RBI single from redshirt junior utility Anna Vines and a two-RBI double from Pola extended UCLA’s lead, culminating in a 7-4 victory.

UCLA’s final game of the tournament, a Sunday matchup against No. 16 Missouri, started off with a bang.

Three straight singles from Vines, Pola and Wisz loaded up the bases for Brady in the bottom of the first. Seizing an opportunity to give the Bruins an early lead, Brady drilled a pitch over the right-field fence for a grand slam.

“There’s a lot of pressure that comes with (having the bases loaded), but I was just really trying to get on the board for Megan because I knew she was going to pitch a great game,” Brady said.

Inouye-Perez said she was impressed with how Brady, who finished the tournament with three home runs and nine RBIs, connected for big hits despite being pitched around by her opponents.

“The big long ball and the grand slam, those are the types of things that everybody wants to see from Maya,” Inouye-Perez said. “It’s not always easy because she doesn’t get the great pitches to do it, which speaks to just how talented she is.”

The Bruins tacked on some insurance runs the following inning, with a Vines RBI-single and a Pola two-RBI double bringing the score to 7-0. Faraimo made her third appearance of the weekend in the circle against the Tigers, giving up four runs over 5 1/3 innings before Azevedo gave up one unearned run over 1 2/3 innings of relief to secure the 7-5 victory.

Inouye-Perez said she’s proud of the versatility and depth her team displayed both offensively and defensively over the weekend.

“To be able to leave a tournament like this weekend’s 5-0 is the ability for, as we say in our language, each and every Bruin to be able to do their part in helping the team succeed,” Inouye-Perez said. “I walk away feeling really proud of this team.”