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UCLA Softball Week in Review 20210405

# 2 UCLA (19-1, 3-0) coming off an almost 3-week layoff due to Covid protocols shook off the rust and won 3/4 against #3 Oregon (26-2, 5-1) this weekend.

Bubba Nickles injured her wrist last week and did not make the trip. Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez moved Aaliyah Jordan (.531 OBP%) to the top of the lineup and replaced Nickles (.382 OBP%) in the field with Thessa Malau’ ulu (0/2) and Anna Vines (3/8 2BB, DBL).

Megan Faraimo (10-1, 0.70 ERA) got the start in game 1 against Oregon ace Brooke Yanez (13-0, 1.34 ERA). A pitchers’ duel ensued until the bottom of the when Faraimo hung a pitch to Allee Bunker (3/3, R, 2 RBI who homered. Rachel Garcia (4-0, 0.29 ERA) replaced Faraimo (4 Innings, 3H, 2 R, 4K) in the bottom of the 5th. Garcia (2 Innings, 2 H, R, 3K) allowed another run then settled down. The Bruin offense (2/23) could not get going against Yanez (7 Innings, 2 H, BB, 8K) and lost 0-3.

In game 2, Brooke Yanez (14-0, 1.24) returned against Rachel Garcia (4-0, 0.54 ERA). This time Yanez (4 innings, 3H, 3R, 2 BB, 7 K) was relieved by Samaria Diaz (3-0, 2.39 ERA) after the 4th. The Bruin offense struggled (4/26) but managed to score 3 runs in the top of the 1st. That was enough as Garcia (7 inning, 8H, 2 BB 7K) threw a complete game shutout to win 3-0.

In game 3, Holly Azevedo (3-0, 2.55 ERA) pitched a complete game (7 Innings, 9 H, 3 R, BB, 8K) in a non-conference victory (9-3). The offense (9/29, 9 R, 9 RBI, 5 BB) relieved not to be facing Yanez exploded for 9 runs on starter Makenna Kliethermes (5-2, 2.69 ERA) (3 2/3 Innings, 2 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K) and reliever Samaria Diaz (3-0, 3.14 ERA) (3 1/3 Innings, 7 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 5 K).

Game 4 was a rematch between Megan Faraimo (10-2, 0.87 ERA) and Brooke Yanez (14-1, 1.41 ERA). The Bruins won (6-2) as the offense (5/27, 6 R, 2 HR, 3 BB) woke up late against a clearly fatigued Yanez ((6 2/3 Innings, 5 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 8K). There was clearly a disconnect between Faraimo (2 innings, 3H, R, BB, 3K HR), the dugout and catcher Alyssa Garcia. Faraimo was chased after yielding a home run to the Ducks. Rachel Garcia (5 Innings, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K, HR) gave up a home run to the first batter, then no hit the Ducks to pick up the win.

Around the Pac 12

#2 UCLA (22-2, 5-1) should return to the conference lead after going 2-1 conference and 1-0 non-conference against Oregon.

#3 Oregon (27-5, 6-3) will drop below #6 Washington (31--5, 9-2) who swept 3 conference games against OSU (15-17, 3-9) and #9 Arizona (24-5, 6-2) who beat New Mexico State twice before losing an exhibition against team Mexico.

#14 ASU (25-10, 6-6) went 2-1 conference and 1-0 non- conference against Stanford (23-11, 4-5) will remain in the middle of the PAC.

UC Berkeley (16-12, 3-6) beat Utah (16-18, 2-10) 2-1 conference 1-0 non-conference to avoid the bottom of the PAC.

Next Games: Oregon State at Easton Stadium

Apr 16 (Fri) 4:00 PM PT

Apr 17 (Sat) 11:00 AM PT

Apr 17 (Sat) 1:30 PM PT

Apr 18 (Sun) 12:00 PM PT

Next Week Preview

The Bruins return home to play Oregon St. (15-17, 3-9) on 4/16-4/18. UCLA swept 3 games from OSU (8-1, 10-2, 7-0) in 2019. UCLA pitchers combined to hold OSU to 3 runs in 19 innings.

Mazon, Mariah (11-9 2.29 ERA, 13 CG) is the ace of their staff and has pitched 2/3 of their innings. She is also one of their better hitters (.337). Mazon pitched 21/28 innings against Washington allowing 15 hits and 8 runs.

As well as Mazon pitched, the Beavers Offense sputtered (.078 BA, 6 R, 9 BB) in all four games. Besides Mazon, Frankie Hammoude (.351) and Missy Nunes (.310) lead the offense.




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