(Photo Courtesy of UCLA Athletics)
LOS ANGELES – UCLA pitchers were posting goose eggs left and right on Saturday, as junior Ally Carda had six strikeouts in a three-hit victory over Western Kentucky (5-0), while senior Jessica Hall fanned 10 in a three-hit, five-inning win against Robert Morris (9-0) at Easton Stadium on day two of the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament.
The Bruins improve to 9-0 on the season with the pair of shutout wins. Against Western Kentucky (5-3-1), Carda had 1-2-3 innings in the first and fourth frames, striking out a pair in the seventh. She allowed only one runner to get to second base. At the plate, UCLA recorded nine hits. Carda, Hall, sophomore Brittany Moeai and freshman Delaney Spaulding each had a pair of hits, while Carda and Spaulding both drove in two runs.
UCLA scored all of its runs in the first three innings. In the first, Carda led off with a walk, stole second and came home on a double to left-center by Spaulding.
In the second, UCLA added three. Hall started the inning with a single down the left-field line and moved to third on a single down the right-field line by Moeai. Junior Tara Mueller, running for Moeai, was forced at second on a fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of junior Gracie Goulder, who then stole second. One out later, Carda singled up the middle to plate Hall and Goulder to make it 3-0, with Carda moving to second on the throw home. Spaulding followed with a double to right-center to bring in Carda with the Bruins’ fourth run.
The Bruins tacked on another run in the third. With two outs, Hall doubled down the left-field line and was pinch-run for by sophomore Kodi Lavrusky, who scored on a single to left-center by Moeai to make it 5-0.
In the nightcap, the Bruins scored four in the first and five in the third to mercy Robert Morris (4-3). Hall extended her shutout streak to begin the season to 17 innings, giving up only three hits and a walk with her 10 strikeouts. The first six outs Hall recorded were strikeouts, adding two more in both the fourth and fifth frames. The senior had 1-2-3 innings in the first and fourth.
Hall also had two hits and four RBI at the plate, as the Bruins tallied 10 hits. Moeai, Spaulding and sophomore Mysha Sataraka also notched two hits apiece, with Sataraka driving in three.
The Bruins rallied with two outs in the opening frame to score four times. Junior Stephany LaRosa doubled to right-center and scored on a single up the middle by Sataraka to make it 1-0. A single through the 5-6 hole by senior Alyssa Tiumalu extended the inning and she and Sataraka came home on a Hall double to right-center. That was followed by a single to right by Moeai to score Hall to make it 4-0.
In the third, Tiumalu led off with a walk and was pinch-run for by Lavrusky, who came home on a Hall homer to center, her second of the season, to make it 6-0. Two outs later, and with Mueller at second and Carda on first, Spaulding singled to left-center to bring in Mueller with UCLA’s seventh run. A walk to LaRosa loaded the bases for Sataraka, who singled to left to plate Carda and Spaulding to make it 9-0.
The Bruins wrap up the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament on Sunday with two more games against UC Davis at 12 p.m. and Loyola Marymount at 2:30 p.m.
