(Photo Courtesy of UCLA Athletics)
Box Score – Game 1
Box Score – Game 2
LOS ANGELES – Behind a pair of home runs from junior Stephany LaRosa and a one-hit shutout by junior Ally Carda, the 12th-ranked Bruins defeated UC Davis 6-0 on Friday afternoon before recording a 3-2, extra-inning comeback victory against Robert Morris, capped off by a walk-off hit from senior Jessica Hall in the eighth.
In the opener against UC Davis (3-6), the Bruins (6-0) and the Aggies battled through 4 1/2 scoreless innings before the home squad scored four times in the fifth and twice in the sixth. UCLA had 11 hits as a team, as Hall and LaRosa each notched three hits, with LaRosa driving in five, which tied a career high. Carda and freshman Delaney Spaulding both added a pair of hits.
Carda was dominant in the circle after allowing a one-out single in the first inning, retiring the final 20 batters of the game to pick up her third win of the year. She tied a career high with 11 strikeouts, fanning the side in the seventh and a pair in both the fifth and sixth frames. Carda struck out at least one in every inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Bruins touched up the Aggies for four runs, three of them coming on one swing. Carda led off with a single to left and Spaulding reached on a bunt single to put a pair on for LaRosa, who belted her second homer of the season to center to make it 3-0. Two outs later and with Hall at second after recording a single and advancing on a throw, sophomore Brittany Moeai blooped a hit to center to plate the Bruins’ fourth run.
Another swing of the bat added two more runs in the sixth. Carda had a one-out double to right-center and came home one out later on LaRosa’s second bomb of the game, this time to left-center, to make it 6-0.
In game two, UCLA (7-0) held a 1-0 lead through six and had Robert Morris (4-2) down to its last strike before a two-run homer gave the visitors the lead. However, the Bruins would tie the score in the seventh before winning it an inning later.
Sophomore Paige McDuffee posted her second victory of the season, striking out a career-best nine in eight innings, giving up two runs and four hits. She struck out one in each of the first five innings, three in the sixth and one more in the eighth. McDuffee had 1-2-3 innings in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth.
UCLA had just four hits as a team, with Spaulding posting a triple, LaRosa recording a double and Hall and junior Tara Mueller singling.
The Bruins scored what looked like was going to be the game’s only run in the third. With two outs, Carda walked and came home on a Spaulding triple to right-center to make it 1-0.
The zeroes continued to be put up on the scoreboard until the top of the seventh. With a runner at first and two outs, Tess Apke hit a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left field to put the Colonials up 2-1.
UCLA opened the seventh with Goulder getting hit by a pitch and advancing to second on a wild pitch. Two pop ups later, Spaulding was hit by a pitch to put a pair on base. LaRosa then skied a ball towards the Robert Morris first base dugout, but it was dropped by Lauren Hackett to give the Bruins a second life. LaRosa would capitalize on the chance with a double down the left-field line to plate Goulder with the game-tying run.
With the international tiebreaker rule in effect for extra innings, the Colonials stranded a runner at third, one out situation in the eighth. In the Bruins’ half of the eighth, junior Jessica Amaral was at second to start the inning, moved to third on a Tiumalu sacrifice and scored on a single to right by Hall to wrap up a 3-2 victory.
The Bruins play twice more on Saturday against Western Kentucky (12:30 p.m.) and Robert Morris (3:30 p.m.). The Winsberg family will be honored prior to the Bruins’ first game, while former UCLA great Debbie Doom will have her jersey #17 retired before the second contest. Live stats will be available at UCLABruins.com, along with live updates at twitter.com/uclasoftball.