UCLA softball ‘could not stop’ after drought-ending single in victory over UCSD
Rachel Cid bumps fists with her teammates before a game. The fifth-year infielder for UCLA softball notched three RBIs on two hits against UC San Diego on Tuesday night. (Myka Fromm/Daily Bruin)
Softball
| No. 3 UCLA | 10 |
| UC San Diego | 1 |
By Nicole Augusta
April 5, 2023 1:42 p.m.
The third time up to bat was the charm for the Bruins on Tuesday night.
After two scoreless innings by both teams, No. 3 UCLA softball (33-4, 9-3 Pac-12) defeated UC San Diego (14-20, 4-5 Big West) at the Triton Softball Field by a nine-run margin, concluding after only six innings with a score of 10-1. The victory comes after the blue and gold saw its first conference sweep of the season against then-No. 6 Stanford last weekend.
The first two innings of the game created a lengthy scoring drought for both teams. It all changed, however, when freshman utility Megan Grant stepped up to the plate in the third inning.
Grant said she approaches each at-bat with a humble mindset.
“I don’t like to think too big, honestly. I mean, I just like to go back to my process and just … get the job done,” Grant said.
And get the job done, she did. After freshman utility Kennedy Powell advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, Grant hit a single that brought Powell home from scoring position.
Though the game opened with a drought, a flood of runs soon followed.
Redshirt junior catcher Sharlize Palacios hit a single, and sophomore outfielder Lauren Hatch stole second base on a Triton error. A single by junior outfielder Lauryn Carter broke the 1-1 tie and furthered the momentum that Grant instigated one inning earlier.
“The name of the game today was swinging at strikes and do what I can to help advance runners and just get baserunners on for my teammates,” Carter said. “It’s the most important thing.”
Both Grant and Carter have seen adjustments to their spots in the lineup recently, with the former making her first career start at shortstop on Tuesday and the latter seeing a more prominent starting role.
The change comes with the unique opportunity to be a force for scoring, according to Carter.
“‘What can I do with this at-bat?’ Or, ‘What can I do on base to get some girls over it, get some runs in and win this game?'” Carter said.
And true to her statement, the victory was a team effort, as each run scored was a result of hits compounded on each other, without the base-clearing aid of the long ball.
Although neither team hit any over the fence, the Bruins were not lacking in extra-base hits. The fourth inning saw a triple by sophomore utility Savannah Pola, as well as a double by freshman infielder Jordan Woolery, who currently leads the team with 11 this season. Grant, Powell, Pola, Hatch and freshman infielder Riley Pinedo were all able to score on top of Carter, marking a six-run frame.
“We could not stop,” Grant said.
Many of the evening’s runs were charted by freshmen, cementing the spots of both Grant and Woolery in the team’s top-five rankings for hits and RBIs this season.
The Bruins rounded out the game with multiple RBIs from fifth-year infielder Rachel Cid. The late-game production allowed Carter to score for the second time of the night in the fifth inning – followed by scores from redshirt juniors utility Maya Brady and outfielder Janelle Meoño – after which the blue and gold clinched the win by means of the mercy rule. Capitalizing on inconsistencies from the Tritons proved to be key, as multiple throwing errors allowed Bruins to run rampant around the basepaths.
UCLA will return to play Thursday, hosting Oregon State at Easton Stadium in the first of a three-game series.
