Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Fri, Feb 07 4:07 pm
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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For softball, today was supposed to feature UCLA, IU-Indianapolis, Utah Tech, and UC Riverside each playing double-headers at Easton Stadium. But, in order to limit wear and tear on a muddy field, UCLA and IU-Indianapolis will play a double-header tonight, while Utah Tech and UCR will play a double-header in Riverside.
https://uclabruins.com/news/2025/2/6/softball-makes-changes-to-friday-games-at-easton-stadium
UCLA will travel to Irvine tomorrow to play Nevada and Lehigh at the Mark Campbell Invitational, before traveling back to campus to play UCR at Easton Stadium on Sunday.
It will be a busy schedule tonight with softball (both games on B1G+ starting at 5pm), men's volleyball (7pm vs #1 Long Beach State on ESPN+), and women's gymnastics (6:30pm at Washington on B1G+) all playing at the same time. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Fri, Feb 07 6:23 pm
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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The Bruins went long for all of their scoring, with Mujica, Slimp, Curo, and Grant each hitting HRs. UCLA prevailed 8-0 in a run-rule shortened game.
Taylor Tinsley was sharp. Hitting her locations repeatedly and mixing up speeds to keep the IU Indianapolis hitters off balance. She struck out 14 batters in 5 innings. Tinsley seems to have picked up some velocity in the off-season, and had absolute command of the zone tonight.
In the 6th, Tinsley gave way to freshman Addisen Fisher who struck out 2 in her Bruin debut. Fisher looks like she tries to attack the hitters vertically, much the same way that Kaitlyn Terry does.
5 starters made their Bruin debuts tonight, including 4 freshmen at the bottom of the order. Rylee Slimp is Bruin newcomer with speed, and she batted 9th. But, unlike some other Bruin speedsters that have batted out of the 9th spot, Slimp has power. Cal Poly graduate transfer Jessica Clements batted leadoff. She had 13 stolen bases last season, which would have led the Bruins. UCLA doesn't have much speed in the lineup, but both Slimp and Clements look like they can produce in a lot of ways.
2nd half of the doubleheader is coming up. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Sun, Feb 09 3:11 pm
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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Good start to the season against comparatively weak competition, as the Bruins beat UI Indianapolis, Nevada, Lehigh, and UC Riverside by mercy rule over the weekend. UCLA used a lot of their new players in key roles, and it already looks like the Bruins will have a very potent offense this season to go with a deep pitching staff.
The Bruin pitching did not allow a run until today’s game against UCR when freshman Addisen Fisher gave up a couple of runs in the 3rd.
The bottom of the lineup is still in flux. But it looks like freshman OF Rylee Slimp is moving up in the order. She began as the #9 hitter, but has a more potent bat than we’ve seen from the bottom of the order. She batted 6th today, while freshman SS Aleena Garcia moved to the 9th spot.
UCLA also used 3 different players at catcher. The team speed was the big question mark coming into the season with the Bruins’ speediest baserunners from last season (Brady and Allchin). gradating.
It looks like Cal Poly grad transfer Jessica Clements has locked down the leadoff spot. She hit over .500 for the weekend and had 3 stolen bases. Last year’s stolen base leader Jadelyn Allchin had only 10 steals for the entire season.
Good start and next week will provide the first true test for this retooled Bruin lineup. They have a lot of power hitters, but it remains to be seen how they will fare against elite pitching. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Sun, Feb 09 6:18 pm
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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Yes, it's early. But, the Bruin softball team has piled up some scary stats through the first 5 games, all of which UCLA won by mercy rule. The offense is really getting it done, and the pitching has been equally impressive so far. The level of competition will ramp up next week, so these stats will come back down to earth. But, it's nice to see the Bruin newcomers coming through.
- 6 of the 8 starting Bruin position players are hitting at over .300, with 3 of the 4 players at the top of the lineup batting over .400 (cleanup hitter Megan Grant is hitting .385).
- 6 Bruins have an OPS over 1.000.
- as a team, UCLA is batting .426 with 8 homers.
- Savannah Pola is the DP and she leads the team with a batting average of .692.
- New leadoff hitter Jessica Clements is batting .529 with 5 RBIs, 3 stolen bases, and 6 runs scored.
- P Caitlyn Terry is batting for herself this season. She was brought in as a pinch hitter today in the 9th spot, and had a 2-RBI double. She's gone 2 for 3 so far.
- Terry has only allowed 3 baserunners in 10 innings, with 16 strikeouts. Opponent batting average so far is .061.
- P Taylor Tinsley has struck out 18 batters in 7 innings, while allowing only 2 baserunners in 7 innings.
- UCLA's ERA is 0.50 with an opponent batting average of .131. Bruin pitchers have had 3 BBs (plus 2 HBP) in 28 innings. Coach Inouye-Perez is continuing to call the pitches from the dugout.
- The Bruin freshmen have seen more of a mixed bag. The bottom of the lineup with Kaniya Bragg and Aleena Garcia is battling under .200. Rylee Slimp moved up from 9th to 6th in the lineup. The top of the order from 1st to 6th is formidable so far. Sofia Mujica and Jayla Castro have combined to go 6 for 9 batting from the catcher's spot.
- #1 pitching recruit Addisen Fisher has gone 9 innings with a 1.56 ERA and 13 strikeouts. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Fri, Feb 14 9:06 am
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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Good season preview of the Bruin softball team, with the emphasis on UCLA's ace tandem of Tinsley and Terry. The duo came of age in the postseason last year, and while UCLA has a lot of battle-tested veterans, the article points out that 55% of UCLA's offensive production from last year has moved on. So, UCLA will depend a lot on the new players they've brought in.
A lot will also potentially ride on the emergence of #1 overall recruit Addisen Fisher. If she emerges into legit 3rd ace, then UCLA will have pitching depth that can go toe-to-toe with anyone. They did not have that last season.
https://sports.yahoo.com/taylor-tinsley-kaitlyn-terry-lead-120041850.html |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Sun, Feb 16 5:41 pm
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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UCLA nearly had a clean sweep at the Clearwater Invitational, but they lost the final game this morning on a walkoff homer by Virginia. In the UVa game, Taylor Tinsley had another bad outing, giving up 5 earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. With the Bruins down 5-0, they came storming back in the 3rd and 4th innings to take 6-0 lead. Freshman Addisen Fisher came on in relief and shut UVa down. Lefty ace Kaitlyn Terry was brought in to close out the game, but she gave up a 2-run homer in the 7th that won the game for UVa.
The Bruin offense was humming all weekend against high level competition. Tinsley had a couple of rough starts. In the televised game against #10 OK State, Tinsley was not as sharp with her control when she came into the game in relief. Her velocity has improved, but she's not going to blow pitches by good hitters. Terry and Addisen have more velocity, and can blow pitches by hitters even if they're not hitting their spots. Tinsley needs to hit her spots to be effective.
UCLA had a great opportunity to go 10-0 today, but couldn't get it done. Otherwise, they had great wins this weekend against Oklahoma State, Alabama, Charlotte, and Kentucky. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Thu, Feb 20 11:24 pm
(Edited Thu, Feb 20 11:43 pm)
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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UCLA will play the most difficult part of its schedule beginning this weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City.
https://uclabruins.com/news/2025/2/19/no-4-softball-returns-to-22nd-mary-nutter-collegiate-classic
The Bruins started play today with wins over #22 Missouri and #15 Nebraska. In the win over Mizzou, Kaitlyn Terry pitched a complete game allowing only 1 run on 4 hits. UCLA racked up 9 hits and 4 runs. Once again it was the top and bottom of the order doing the damage.
In the night game against Nebraska, Taylor Tinsley overcame a rough start where she allowed 4 walks and a HBP in the first 3 innings. For the night, she allowed only 1 unearned run on 3 hits. And did not walk any batters after the 3rd inning.
The Bruin offense scored 9 runs in a mercy rule shortened game. They did not see Husker ace Jordy Bahl, who was playing 1B instead. Bahl was a 2X All-American at Oklahoma before transfering to Nebraska following her sophomore year. She beat #3 UCLA 4-1 in her freshman year, striking out 14.
Freshman Aleena Garcia continues her hot hitting after starting the season below .200, she's now close to .400.
Because the B1G is a weak softball conference, UCLA will need to build its resume in this tournament and the upcoming Judi Garman tournament in Fullerton. This is the only stretch this season where the Bruins will face a series of ranked teams. UCLA has #5 Tennessee tomorrow, and they will play #14 Duke on Saturday.
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Thu, Feb 27 3:30 pm
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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UCLA ended its toughest stretch of the season with a 2-1 loss to #6 LSU in the opener for the Judi Garman tournament at Cal State Fullerton. P Kaitlyn Terry was dealing, but gave up a 2-run homer in the 6th inning to break a scoreless tie. UCLA came back with a run in the bottom of the 6th, but could not push the tying run across.
The Bruins are currently playing Notre Dame and lead 6-2 in the 5th inning. Starting pitcher Jada Cecil gave up a 2-run homer in the 4th that gave the Irish a 2-1 lead. But, UCLA stormed back with 5 runs in the bottom of the inning to pull ahead 6-2. Addisen Fisher replaced Cecil after the 2-run HR, and has held ND scoreless in her 2 2/3 innings pitched so far. Fisher had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the 5th, but the Bruins threw the lead runner out at the plate and Fisher struck out the last batter to end the threat.
UCLA has 3 other games coming up this weekend -- Cal State Fullerton on Friday, and Weber State and #10 Arizona on Saturday in what might be the only game against their long-time Pac-12 rival this season. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
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Posted Sun, Mar 16 3:14 pm
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In response to Softball: Season opener vs CSUF postponed due to rain (Woochifer)
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UCLA completed its first B1G series with a big comeback win over Purdue today. With freshman Addisen Fisher starting, the Bruins fell into a 3-1 hole in the 2nd. Kaitlyn Terry gave up 2 more runs in the 3rd, and the Bruins were down 5-1. But, the Bruins responded and thanks to homers from Woolery, Grant, and Pola, UCLA got the lead and Terry held Purdue scoreless for the last 4 innings.
UCLA swept Purdue, but the last two games were not easy. Saturday was a pitcher's duel as Terry gave up only 1 run (on a solo HR) and held the Boilermakers to 2 hits. But, the Bruin bats were cooled off for the most part -- the 2 runs were barely enough for the win.
The Bruins have now won 9 straight games as the soft part of the schedule (i.e., B1G conference play) starts in earnest. In addition to their hitting, which has been stellar at the top and middle part of the batting order, the Bruins have been an elite defensive team so far this season. Their fielding % of .982 is near the top of the NCAA and well above their historical trend as well. |
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