UCLA softball tries new spin

Emphasis on defense, pitching helped Bruins end early struggles, reach super regional.

It was only February, and already doubts were creeping in for UCLA’s softball team.

Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said she began to think, “This is not looking good for us to be a top-16 team, a top team. “And that’s our goal.” At the time, UCLA couldn’t string together consecutive wins. Then, at the end of the month and into March, the team lost four consecutive games.

UCLA required a new philosophy — one that ignited the turnaround that led the Bruins (38-13-1) to a berth in a best-of-threegames NCAA super regional against Oregon that begins Saturday in Eugene.

A program accustomed to dominance from its starting pitchers has instead relied on two sophomores, Selina Ta’amilo and Johanna Grauer, who struggled mightily early in the season. For example, during that four-game skid, opponents averaged more than seven runs per game.

Too often, the pitchers would walk or hit a batter, igniting manageable innings into backbreaking rallies.

“I mean, they got beat up,” Inouye-Perez said, emphasizing the final words like drumbeats. “We gave up more games when we were in the lead and gave it away.”

The losing stopped when the Bruins recommitted to defense. They lead the nation in double plays, and Ta’amilo and Grauer have learned to attack hitters and let plays be made behind them.

“It’s no secret that they haven’t dominated,” InouyePerez said “But they’ve gotten better.”

Ta’amilo is 18-5 with a 3.61 earned-run average, and ended the regular season with a shutout. Grauer (15-8, 3.90) began the postseason with her first no-hitter of the season.

In an NCAA regional last week at UCLA, the Bruins took out Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Fullerton without dropping a game.

Three Bruins have reached double digits in home runs: Delaney Spaulding (17), Mysha Sataraka (13) and Madeline Jelenicki (13). In three postseason games, 14 of UCLA’s 15 runs came on home runs.

“You can expect the long ball from anyone in the lineup,” Inouye-Perez said.

The NCAA selection committee has taken criticism for pairing the Pac-12 Conference’s top two teams in the same super regional.

Inouye-Perez said both teams are championship contenders and lamented, “Now only one of us will be able to go” to the Women’s College World Series June 2-8 in Oklahoma City.

Oregon won the Pac-12 regular-season title, but UCLA took two of three games in Eugene in April.