One of the nation’s top pitching corps visited the Bruins on Friday night.

Except the evening’s shutdown performance didn’t come from any visitor – it came from the hometown ace.

Buoyed by a masterful outing from redshirt senior pitcher Megan Faraimo, No. 3 UCLA softball (30-4, 7-3 Pac-12) claimed its series opener against No. 6 Stanford (28-4, 5-2) with a 4-0 victory. Faraimo accumulated a season-high 15 strikeouts in a four-hit, complete-game shutout to drop the Cardinal from first place in the Pac-12 standings.

“No matter who it is in the other dugout, we’re always trying to compete,” Faraimo said. “But this series specifically, we knew that we were going to have to bring all that we have.”

UCLA’s ace accounted for 10 of her team’s first 12 outs of the evening, with the first six all coming by way of the punchout. A walk and a single put two runners on in the first, but Faraimo tossed her way out of the jam.

The bats were similarly inactive for the blue and gold in the early going. The top three Bruins in the lineup went down in order via groundouts, and pitcher Alana Vawter proceeded to strike out the side in the bottom of the second.

An inning later, though, things started to heat up.

Junior outfielder Lauryn Carter – who launched a grand slam in UCLA’s win last Saturday at Oregon – continued her surge at the plate with a single to right field, giving the Bruins their first baserunner of the contest. Thanks to an uncharacteristic throwing error from the No. 3-ranked Stanford defense, a single from redshirt senior utility Anna Vines turned into a double that allowed Carter to score.

Carter said the third-inning outburst was simply a result of becoming familiar with Vawter’s tendencies.

“Especially going into the second time through the lineup, everyone had seen her already, so we’re all making the adjustments necessary,” Carter said. “Once we have that spark from the run, the rest is kind of history.”

After redshirt junior outfielder Janelle Meoño advanced Vines to third with a single of her own, the UCLA offense still threatened, with an out yet to be recorded. The blue and gold then attempted a double steal, but Vines was cut down at home for the first out.

Vawter forced a ground out to third from sophomore utility Savannah Pola but could not do the same when faced with the Bruins’ top hitter in redshirt junior utility Maya Brady.

Brady laced a double to left field, scoring Meoño to put the Bruins up 2-0. Freshman infielder Jordan Woolery then knocked a single to right, but the Stanford defense called UCLA’s bluff once more, as a cannon from right fielder Kaitlyn Lim halted Brady well before she reached home.

With the two-run cushion from her offense, Faraimo continued to cruise in the circle.

Sans two hit batters and a fielding error by freshman utility Megan Grant, the following three frames were worry-free for Faraimo, as she continued to keep runs off the board while adding five strikeouts to her total.

A two-out rally loaded the bases for Carter in the bottom of the sixth, granting her the kind of clutch scoring opportunity that she’s become accustomed to in recent contests. And with a two-RBI single down the right-field line, Carter did, in fact, clutch up.

The individual breakout comes with a team foundation, according to Carter.

“It all starts with the support from the team. They’ve been supportive from the jump and just with my progression,” Carter said. “They remind me every day that the hard work I’m putting in is really paying off.”

Following just six starts and three hits in her sophomore campaign, Carter has already doubled her start total and more than tripled her hit total as a junior.

“Preparation meets opportunity and great things can happen – that’s Lauryn Carter in a nutshell,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “She’s very convicted right now, and we haven’t been able to see that because she hasn’t been given the same opportunities throughout her career, so this is exciting. It’s awesome.”

Completing the shutout would prove to be a dicey task for Faraimo.

Stanford tallied half its hits in the top of the seventh, and Faraimo’s fourth walk – marking her most allowed all season – created a bases-loaded, two-out scenario. But with the winning run at the plate, she delivered her 15th and final strikeout of the outing to seal the win.

“Even when she gets into those situations, the difference now is that she’s getting herself out, and that’s always a sign of what the best pitchers in the game can do,” Inouye-Perez said.