#3 UCLA Softball Also Faces Stanford

It’s a Stanford weekend for the UCLA Bruins. Not only is the softball team playing the Cardinal, so are the UCLA baseball team and the Bruin women’s water polo team.

So, while the baseball teams battle it out tonight at Jackie Robinson Stadium just off campus, the softball teams will be playing at Easton Stadium back on campus. The Stanford softball team doesn’t appear to be much competition for the 3rd-ranked Bruins. The Cardinal have won just one of their first six Pac-12 conference games after starting the season by going 19-9 in non-conference action. In fact, the Cardinal have lost six straight. So, expect a third consecutive sweep this weekend.

In the meantime, the Bruins scored the first eight runs of the game against Cal State Northridge on Tuesday night. They got on the board in the bottom of the first when Aaliyah Jordan singled home Briana Perez who had led off with a double.

UCLA led 1-0 until the bottom of the third. Again, it was Briana Perez getting things started. This time, she was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on a single by her sister Kylee. With Jordan at the plate, Kelly Inouye-Perez sent Imani Johnson in to pinch-run for Briana. Jordan hit a sacrifice fly that scored Johnson and moved Kylee Perez over to third. Rachel Garcia singled to right to score Kylee Perez to make it 3-0, Bruins. Brianna Tautalafua followed with a two-run homer to center that would prove to be the game-winning hit. Paige Halstead would add an insurance run after that on a Zoe Shaw double to give UCLA a 6-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, Jordan also hit a two-run homer that brought Kylee Perez in as UCLA took an 8-0 lead.

The Matadors finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth when they scored two and, while they would add another run in the seventh, CSUN just couldn’t generate enough offense to challenge the Bruin bats.

Holly Azevedo held the Matadors to three runs on seven hits with three walks while striking out five for her 11th win of the season.

Unfortunately, this weekend’s series won’t be on TV. So, head out to Easton Stadium if you can because this year’s team continues to be something special. If you can’t make it out there, there is live audio of the series available.

First pitch tonight is at 7 pm PT.

This is your UCLA Bruins vs. Stanford Cardinal softball open thread.


Go Bruins!!!