UCLA Softball Crushes Colonials, 11-0; Bruins Face BYU and Liberty Today

Megan Faraimo has done a pretty remarkable job pitching in the short time that she’s been in Weswood. She has already thrown two no-hitters and she nearly made it a third last night when she allowed just one hit against the Robert Morris Colonials.

Last Time Out

In fact, Faraimo retired the first thirteen batters she faced before finally giving up a double to Madison Riggle with one out in the top of the fifth. Faraimo also struck out twelve including the first six batters she faced. Faraimo is now 5-1 with a 1.18 ERA.

Meanwhile, UCLA’s bats were humming.

Briana Perez led off the bottom of the first for the Bruins with an inside-the-park homer to right field. Then, with two out in the bottom of the second, Colleen Sullivan drew a walk. Kinsley Washington drove Sullivan in on an RBI triple to center while Kelli Godin drove in Washington on an infield single which gave UCLA a 3-0 lead.

In the fourth, UCLA exploded for a total of eight runs that included an RBI single by Bubba Nickles, a grand slam by Aaliyah Jordan and a two-run homer by Taylor Pack. Finally, for good measure, Paige Halstead doubled in Snow who pinch-ran for Brianna Tautalaufa as Halstead came to the plate. All told, UCLA had torched Robert Morris for eight runs in the innings as the Bruins stretched their lead to 11-0, which set up a chance to shorten the game using the mercy rule.

While Faraimo finally gave up her only hit of the night, the Colonials couldn’t score and the Bruin fans went hope happy.

BYU Cougars

It’s been an up and down season so far for the 10-10 Cougars. They’ve already won three of the four games they’ve played so far in the UCLA/Long Beach Invitational. They beat Robert Morris and Long Beach on Thursday as well as Ohio yesterday before losing to Boston University, 7-6.

They jsut don’t have the firepower to beat the Bruin pitchers. I expect this game may be shortened by the mercy rule.

Liberty Flames

If UCLA loses a game this weekend, I won’t be surprised if they become the second UCLA team to lose to Liberty since the end of December. That’s because the Flames are coached by UCLA Hall of Famer Dr. Dot Richardson.

Last season, the Flames lost a close one to the Bruins, 4-3, as they almost became the first team to beat the 12-0 Bruins.

So, I won’t be surprised to see the Flames play well against UCLA again. They are a fundamentally sound team with a great coach.

Kelly Inouye-Perez will likely want to pitch Rachel Garcia in this game to give the Bruins the best chance to win. Of course, if this were a WCWS situation, she would probably pitch Garcia against BYU because that’s what she does. The result of this one should be interesting.

This is your UCLA/Long Beach Invitational Saturday doubleheader open thread.


Go Bruins!!!