The Beach’s bullpen couldn’t stop the Bruins’ 10-0 victory, as LBSU softball faced UCLA and shuffled through six pitchers Wednesday at the LBSU Softball Complex.
The mercy rule concluded the game early because UCLA was up by over eight runs after five innings.
Long Beach State sophomore Shannon Haddad’s pitching produced routine plays for her defense getting ground balls and pop-outs until UCLA player Sharlize Palacios opened it up with a home run to right field in the second inning.
Despite the minimal damage, junior pitcher Sophia Fernandez replaced Shannon Haddad on the mound for the third inning.
UCLA’s excellent situational hitting loaded the bases fast with two bunts, followed up with RBIs that resulted in three scored runs. Long Beach continued to swap out pitchers, yet UCLA kept finding ways to cross home plate, whether it was hitting into the gaps or taking advantage of LBSU’s three errors.
“We just defensively kind of, let things get away from us and didn’t stick to the fundamentals,” head coach, Kim Sowder said. “UCLA’s a good team, and they’re gonna put pressure on you and kind of speed the game up on you.”
The Bruins scored the most in the fifth inning with a hit-by-pitch to start it off, followed by clutch hits and base running, scoring four runs and winning 10-0.
The Beach’s senior, infielder Emily Salazar, ruined UCLA’s almost no-hitter at the bottom of the fifth inning, with a hard hit past the third baseman. She had the only hit of the game for LBSU.
Long Beach lacked runners on base and couldn’t get the ball to drop in, but the bats were hitting the ball with force. Oftentimes, the Bruins made impressive defensive plays or the ball would go directly to a defender for a secure out.
“I was, pleased with the contact that we had,” Sowder said. “UCLA made some nice plays in the outfield, so I think we just need to continue to have good contact and, you know, we’ll work on a couple things which got exposed here.”