An offensive spark can sometimes lead a team to victory.

But a strong defense is what wins ball games.

Bouncing back from its recent loss against Iowa, No. 7 UCLA softball (32-5, 7-1 Big Ten) went 4-0 on a trip to the East Coast, defeating Howard (14-17, 8-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) in run-rule fashion Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and then sweeping Maryland (15-18, 3-7 Big Ten) in a three-day series at Maryland Softball Stadium that started Friday. The Bruins outscored their opponents by an overall 35-2 run margin across the trip.

While the Bruins’ bats seemed to be the star of the show – nabbing 11 doubles and eight home runs across the four-game stretch – it was the efforts on the mound that set the tone in their first trip to Maryland.

“The pitchers threw the best I’ve seen them throw this year – very locked in and doing a great job,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “All of them are very hungry. All of them want to be able to have a chance, to be able to help this team win. And when they’re playing, when they’re pitching their A-game – oh, it is fun to watch.”

Freshman pitcher/utility Addisen Fisher got the series started by recording the first no-hitter of her career in the team’s victory over Howard, striking out six and giving up a single walk across five hitless innings.

Fisher helped lay the groundwork for the rest of the cross-country trek, as sophomore pitcher/outfielder Kaitlyn Terry struck out four batters while conceding just three hits and two walks across the five-inning shutout Friday. Junior pitcher Taylor Tinsley added a nine-strikeout victory Saturday, giving up just two hits in six innings. Lastly, bookending the East Coast stint, Fisher finished off the sweep with a five-strikeout performance Sunday.

The performance helped UCLA’s pitching staff – a group consisting of Fisher, Terry, Tinsley and senior Jada Cecil – rank eighth in the nation in earned run average and third in team strikeouts per seven innings.

“I have three pitchers that could easily be the one in any program in the country,” Inouye-Perez said. “The ability for them to continue to learn, the ability for them to be able to get better and stronger through games, for them to get out of big innings – it’s a big part of our strength, is we have three different looks.”

While it was UCLA’s arms that guided it to victory following its March 23 loss, the squad’s batters also rose to the occasion.

Junior tandem utility Megan Grant and infielder Jordan Woolery knocked in a combined 16 RBIs on just 11 hits across the four-game win streak, with the former hitting two beyond the fence in Maryland and the latter going 7-for-13 in the four-game stretch.

While the two continue to dominate from the plate, the pair also continues to demonstrate leadership.

“As juniors, they take on that role of being more vocal. And I’m just really proud of them, to see them grow and be those leaders,” said senior utility Savannah Pola. “We need to show everyone else that even though failure happens, it’s just how you respond.”

In the four-game stretch, Pola also garnered five hits and five RBIs, including two long balls. While it has been the home run hitting that has led the Bruins’ 2024-2025 campaign – ranking No. 12 in the nation in home runs per game – the squad’s attack varies much more than just blasts beyond the outfield wall.

“When they really connect, this team has the ability to put up a lot of runs – and as a result, anytime you’re doing those types of things where the pitchers are really shutting down the opponent, the offense is manufacturing runs the way that they do. That’s what it really feels like and what we’re trying to get accomplished,” Inouye-Perez said.

As the Bruins improve to a 7-1 conference record and sit second in the conference standings, they seem to be hitting a stride as the squad enters a 19-game slate – one that includes No. 6 Oregon, No. 23 Ohio State and Big Ten leader Northwestern – to end its regular season.

“It was really awesome to come out and leave our mark, especially out here on the East Coast,” Fisher said. “This is the first time we played out here, so that was really special to come do that and send the message to everybody in the Big Ten.”