(Photo Courtesy of UCLA Athletics)
LOS ANGELES – The 12th-ranked Bruins completed a perfect 6-0 weekend with another doubleheader sweep on Sunday at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament at Easton Stadium, defeating UC Davis 5-1 and Loyola Marymount 2-0.
UCLA improves to 11-0 on the year with the victories. In game one against UC Davis, the Bruins had nine hits, with seven different players collecting at least one. Junior Ally Carda had two with four runs batted in, while junior Tara Mueller added her first-career, two-hit contest.
In the circle, senior Jessica Hall (4-0) picked up the win with three innings of relief, striking out seven and giving up an unearned run, a hit and six walks. She struck out three in the fourth inning and a pair in both the fifth and sixth. Sophomore Paige McDuffee started the contest and tossed three shutout innings, striking out one and giving up two hits. Carda closed out the game in the seventh with a 1-2-3 frame, striking out a pair.
UCLA got on the board in the bottom of the second. Sophomore Mysha Sataraka led off with a single up the middle and Hall drew a walk. After a ground out by senior Alyssa Tiumalu moved both runners up, junior Gracie Goulder lifted a scoring fly ball to center to plate Sataraka with the game’s first run.
The Bruins broke it open with one swing of the bat in the fourth on a two-out rally. Sophomore Brittany Moeai singled through the right side, Goulder singled to center and Mueller walked to load the bases for Carda, who hit her first homer of the season to center to make it 5-0.
UC Davis (4-8) scored a run without the aid of a hit in the sixth thanks to four Hall walks, as a bases-loaded free pass to Chandler Wagner, following a dropped foul ball by the Bruins which extended the inning, scored Christina Guidry to put the Aggies on the board.
In the nightcap, a pair of runs in the third was all the offense Carda needed, as she struck out 10 to win her fifth game of the season, allowing just two hits. The junior had 1-2-3 innings in the first, second and fourth, striking out three in the third and a pair in both the first and seventh frames. The Bruins never allowed an LMU (0-5) runner to get past first base, turning two double plays and throwing out another runner on a steal attempt. The Bruins were held to just three hits by Carda, Moeai and freshman Delaney Spaulding.
The two-spot in the third came on one swing of the bat. With one out, Carda walked and Spaulding hit her first collegiate homer to center to put the Bruins up 2-0.
UCLA heads to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic next weekend in Cathedral City, Calif. The Bruins take on #7 and defending national champion Oklahoma on Friday (6 p.m.), #14 Missouri (2:30 p.m.) and Maryland (5 p.m.) on Saturday and #8 Nebraska (8:30 a.m.) and New Mexico (2 p.m.) on Sunday.
