A five-game winning streak that kickstarted the Bruins’ season will be put to the test this weekend.

No. 4 UCLA softball (5-0) will go head-to-head against five teams this weekend across the three-day Shriners Clearwater Invitational, three of which are ranked in the top 25. Friday’s schedule includes matchups against No. 10 Oklahoma State (2-2) and Charlotte (2-3), followed by two fixtures against No. 24 Kentucky (4-1) and No. 12 Alabama (4-1) on Saturday. The squad will wrap up its weekend against Virginia (4-2) on Sunday.

UCLA has been dominant leading up to the invitational. The Bruins rendered their opponents scoreless in four of their last five games, outscoring them by a combined 44-2 en route to five consecutive run-rule victories – a first in program history.

Senior utility Savannah Pola, who owns a team-leading .692 batting average, has been instrumental in the Bruins’ offensive success in the second spot in the batting order. Sporting two hits in a 10-2 win against UC Riverside in UCLA’s last contest Sunday, Pola recorded her fourth straight multi-hit game heading into Clearwater.

Junior pitcher Taylor Tinsley posted one of UCLA’s most impressive individual performances at its season opener, tallying 14 strikeouts against IU Indianapolis, earning her Softball America’s Star of the Week honors. Tinsely’s pitching efforts have aided the Bruins’ dominance on the mound, with the crew ranked No. 1 in the nation in K/BB ratio, No. 2 in strikeouts and No. 4 in ERA with 17, 51, and .50, respectively.

Beyond consistent play on both sides of the ball, depth and youth has played a role in the Bruins future efforts.

“At times, every single freshman has been into the games that we’ve played just opening up season here, and we have newcomer [graduate student outfielder] Jessica Clements, so to see some of the new Bruins come in and perform is just really exciting,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “We have depth, we have different ways to win ball games, which is really exciting as a coach.”

Junior utility Megan Grant held similar praise for the new additions to the squad.

“The new players bring tremendous value to the team in terms of their openness and their youth, being able to be totally down for the Bruins,” Grant said.

As UCLA set its sights on the opponents in the upcoming invitational, one of the matchups to watch is the squad’s opening match against Oklahoma State.

Though the Cowgirls are fresh off an 8-0 defeat that sunk their win record to a .500 figure, they present a threat to the Bruins on the offensive front with their style of play and a cumulative 11 stolen bases this season. UCLA, however, could capitalize on Oklahoma State’s defense, which left the squad outscored 14-1 in its last two games.

Charlotte, Kentucky, Alabama, and Virginia are all coming off of wins going into the tournament, and could maintain their winning momentum against UCLA.

Expectations on what this Bruin squad could achieve are building, and Clearwater will just be another hurdle on the path to their ultimate goal.

“Our goal is to get back to Oklahoma City and win a championship,” Inouye-Perez said.