Performances from Brady, Faraimo keep UCLA softball’s undefeated streak alive

Two no-hitters, a walk-off and a National Player of the Week selection.

That’s what highlighted the beginning of the season for the Bruins as they wrapped up the 19th annual Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament, picking up three victories to maintain their undefeated record.

No. 2 UCLA softball (7-0) swept San Diego (0-5) on Sunday in a 14-0 and 5-2 doubleheader before defeating Liberty (1-5) by a score of 3-2 on Tuesday.

In the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, redshirt senior pitcher/first baseman Megan Faraimo took the circle for the Bruins. Faraimo picked up right where she left off on opening day by throwing her fifth career no-hitter and tallying eight strikeouts in the process.

“Honestly, every time I throw a pretty good game, I never realize what I’m doing until the end,” Faraimo said. “I was just trying to focus on the process of everything, making sure I’m hitting my spots. I did cross (redshirt junior catcher) Sharlize (Palacios) a couple of times, so I think that no-hitter is just as much hers as it is mine.”

Faraimo’s counterpart from San Diego was pitcher Emma Giaime. By the time Giaime finally got her first out, UCLA had strung together six hits and scored four runs, including an opposite field two-run home run by redshirt junior utility Maya Brady.

The offensive outburst continued throughout the game as the Bruins finished each half-inning with at least three runs. In the bottom of the fourth, Brady connected on a 1-1 pitch, blasting it over the right field wall for her second home run of the game to mark the third multi-home-run game of her career.

Brady finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs and tied the program record with that home run for most consecutive hits with 10.

“I’ve just been working with coach (Kelly Inouye-Perez) and my teammates on really creating a good rhythm,” Brady said. “I think it just really translated into today.”

In the next contest, the Bruins trotted out sixth-year Oregon transfer pitcher Brooke Yanez. As opposed to the first leg, the Toreros wasted no time filling up the box score.

Infielder Izzy Owen lined a single to right on the first pitch of the game, and after a Yanez error, the Toreros notched consecutive two-out, RBI singles en route to a 2-0 lead.

On the defensive side, the Toreros pitched another freshman in Kelsey Tadlock. The southpaw quieted the Bruins’ bats in the first two innings but ran into some trouble in the third. Freshman utility Kennedy Powell led off with a bunt single, and redshirt senior outfielder Kelli Godin slapped a ball into left, bringing up the top of the lineup with nobody out.

But Tadlock was able to work out of the jam, leaving UCLA down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth. Brady huddled her team to regroup.

“They had a lot of momentum, and I just wanted to calm everybody down and get everybody in the right mindset and focusing in on one pitch and just being ourselves,” Brady said. “When we’re ourselves, we’re at our best.”

On the first at-bat of the inning, Palacios got the Bruins on the board with an opposite-field home run to right.

And in the bottom of fifth, a pair of singles from sophomore utility Savannah Pola and Brady set up a sacrifice fly by freshman utility Megan Grant to even the game at two.

With Tadlock still in the game in the bottom of the seventh, Godin led off with a walk and Pola bunted for a single to bring up Brady. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Brady roped a ball over the right field wall for a walk-off home run to complete the Bruins’ comeback.

“We never give up on ourselves,” Faraimo said. “We’re fighting every inning, even if we didn’t get an outcome. And then it finally paid off in the end.”

Brady finished the week batting 13-for-16 with four home runs, 13 RBIs and 13 runs, becoming the first Bruin to win the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Player of the Week award since then-redshirt junior outfielder Aaliyah Jordan in 2020.

Moving forward, Tuesday’s contest marked a homecoming game for UCLA Hall of Famer, former national champion and Olympic gold medalist Dot Richardson, who is now the head coach at Liberty.

In the night that saw temperatures in the low 50s, Faraimo – who was awarded Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday – started for UCLA, while Paige Bachman got the nod for Liberty.

The Bruins struck first, getting on the board in the bottom of the first inning with a Palacios RBI single and a bases-loaded walk by fifth-year infielder Rachel Cid.

However, the Flames responded immediately with a two-run home run by infielder Raye Green in the top of the second, ending Faraimo’s 15-inning scoreless streak to start the season.

Liberty threatened again in the third, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. However, Faraimo struck out the next two batters and forced a line-out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Bruins retook the lead on the eventual game-winning RBI single from Powell, who brought home sophomore outfielder Lauren Hatch.

“We’re in this part of the season – we call it the unity phase – where we’re going to learn a lot about ourselves,” Inouye-Perez said. “Everyone gets really locked on and committed to be able to get a runner on and move them over and clutch up. Those are keys to championship teams.”

UCLA will head to Florida next weekend for the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational, where it is slated to face Nebraska, No. 15 Alabama, No. 6 Florida State, No. 8 Virginia Tech and Louisiana.