March 9, 2012

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LAKEWOOD, Calif. - Sophomore Jessica Hall and freshman Ally Carda each pitched gems in the circle, while senior Dani Yudin, junior B.B. Bates and freshman Stephany LaRosa each hit home runs, as the 17th-ranked Bruins won twice on Friday, defeating Eastern Kentucky 9-1 in six innings and Long Beach State 14-0 in five at the LBSU Invitational at Mayfair Park.

UCLA 9, Eastern Kentucky 1 (6 innings)

Hall struck out seven in a complete-game effort, while Bates and Yudin both hit home runs, as the 17th-ranked Bruins defeated Eastern Kentucky 9-1 in six innings in their first game of the Long Beach State Invitational on Friday at Mayfair Park.

Hall struck out a pair in both the first and second innings and had 1-2-3 frames in the second and third. She allowed an unearned run, four hits and a walk in six innings to improve to 8-3 on the year.

Seniors Samantha Camuso and Andrea Harrison and sophomore Talee Snow each had a pair of hits. Bates drove in three and Harrison had two RBI.

The Colonels (6-9) got on the board in the top of the first. With one out, Carissa Reisinger slapped a single back to the circle and moved to second on a wild pitch. One out later, Katie Tackett singled through the left side to put runners at the corners. Shannon McQueen then hit one back to Hall, but she threw low to first, allowing Reisinger to score the game's first run.

The Bruins (16-6) tied things up in the bottom of the second. Camuso tripled to left-center with one out and scored when sophomore Kellie Fox reached on an error by Lauren Mitchell at short.

UCLA scored three times on one swing in the bottom of the third. Snow singled to right-center to lead off, but was retired at second when senior Katie Schroeder grounded into a fielder's choice to first. Harrison followed with a flare single to left, and one out later, Schroeder and Harrison came home when Bates crushed a pitch over both center-field fences to make it 4-1. It was Bates' fifth homer of the season.

The Bruins added another run in the fourth. Carda walked to open the frame and was pinch-run for by freshman Sam Duran, who moved to second on a single up the middle by Snow. Duran and Snow both moved up a base on a passed ball, and one out later, Duran scored on a sacrifice fly to right off the bat of Harrison to make it 5-1.

UCLA invoked the mercy rule with four in the bottom of the sixth. Yudin led off with a rocket shot down the right-field line for her third home run of the season to make it 6-1. Carda followed with a double and scored when Snow reached on an error by Mitchell at short that ricocheted into center field. After a Schroeder single to right moved Snow to third, Harrison singled to right to bring home Snow to make it 8-1. Schroeder advanced to third on the base hit and would come home with the mercy-rule winning run when Reisinger's throw to third got away.

UCLA 14, Long Beach State 0 (5 innings)

In game two, LaRosa produced her second four-hit game of the season and drove in a career-best five, while Carda struck out seven in a complete-game, two-hitter, as the Bruins beat Long Beach State 14-0 in five innings in their second game on Friday.

Carda had 1-2-3 innings in the first, second and fifth, and struck out a pair in the second and fifth frames. She allowed just two hits and one walk in five innings to improve to 7-2 on the year.

Schroeder added two hits, while Carda, Camuso and Snow all drove in a pair of runs. Every UCLA starter had at least one hit.

The Bruins (17-6) drew first blood with four runs in the top of the second as they batted around. Camuso led things off with a mammoth shot to center, which like Bates' bomb in game one, cleared both center-field fences to make it 1-0. It was the senior's fifth home run of the season. One out later, Yudin singled to left and advanced to second on a fielding error by Hannah De Gaetano. After Yudin moved to third on a wild pitch, Carda singled to left to bring in the Bruins' second run. UCLA then loaded the bases on a walk to Snow and a single to left by Schroeder, which was followed by Harrison hitting a sacrifice fly to center to plate Carda with run number three. LaRosa then singled to left to drive in Snow to make it 4-0.

UCLA added to its total in the third, sending 10 to the plate and scoring seven. The Bruins were issued three straight walks to Camuso, Fox and Yudin to start the inning. One out later, Snow singled to left to bring in Camuso and Fox to make it 6-0. Schroeder followed with a single up the middle, as Duran, who was running for Yudin, just got her left hand on the plate before the throw home for the Bruins' seventh run. After an infield single to third by Harrison loaded the bases, LaRosa hit her first career grand slam and sixth homer of the season to left to increase the margin to 11-0.

For the third time in the game, the Bruins batted around, scoring three times in the fifth. Schroeder led off with a walk, and one out later, the Bruins loaded the bases on a single to center by LaRosa and a walk to Bates. Camuso then tapped a ball to short, as LaRosa was forced at third, but Schroeder scored to make it 12-0. Fox followed with a single to right, bringing in freshman Tara Mueller, who was running for Bates, for run number 13. Back-to-back walks to Yudin and Carda forced home junior Devon Lindvall, who was running for Camuso to make it 14-0.

The Bruins play once on Saturday against Charleston Southern at 4:30 p.m. Gametracker will be available at UCLABruins.com, as well as live updates at twitter.com/UCLASoftball.