(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
No. 2 UCLA left the high-powered ASU offense swinging for air as they suffered their third loss of the season to the defending champs in the Pac-12 opener. The Sun Devils’ late push in the seventh forced extra innings, but nothing more as the Bruins walked it off in the bottom of the eighth to win 2-1.
A Sun Devils’ offense that averages over nine runs a game and advertises one of the nation’s premier hitting teams were left stunned by one person: UCLA senior pitcher Rachel Garcia.
The All-American Garcia continued her stellar start of the season with a fierce performance against ASU. Against one of the country’s top offenses, Garcia, in eight frames, allowed five hits, 14 strikeouts, and only one run.
The first two innings saw some fight from ASU as three of the first five hitters singled. However, after those first two innings, the two-time USA Softball College Player of the Year took over. Garcia struck out two batters in the third and then threw back-to-back immaculate innings in the 4th and 5th inning.
The UCLA pitcher did not stop with just her pitching as she hit a solo homer in the fourth to give UCLA the 1-0 lead in the game. Garcia was dominating every aspect of the game for the Bruins.
ASU might not have matched their usual offense output, but they matched UCLA in a dominant pitching duel. The Sun Devils had sophomore pitcher Lisndey Lopez start the game, and she was effective early.
Lopez was not blowing by batters, but precision pitching was leaving a great UCLA offense stumped. The sophomore pitcher pitched a strong three and a half innings allowing only three hits and one run before being pulled in the fourth for freshman pitcher Allison Royalty where she continued Lopez’s dominance.
After allowing an opening walk, Royalty would retire eight straight batters heading into the seventh inning, where things would get interesting.
Garcia, flawless through six innings of play, entered the seventh looking to shut out one of the nation’s best offenses. However, junior outfielder Makenna Harper had other plans as she opened the inning with a solo shot to tie the game for ASU.
Momentum had turned towards ASU as the inning headed to the bottom half 1-1. Lopez only allowed an opening walk to freshman outfielder Maya Brady before getting two straight outs. However, that walk almost proved to be costly as senior outfielder Bubba Nickles hit a deep one to the right field corner. Brady turned the corner at third and tried to streak home to give UCLA a walk-off victory. However, ASU sophomore right fielder Jazmine Hill made the race towards the ball in the right corner and threw a missile straight to home plate to get Brady out and save the game for the Sun Devils.
That excellent play by Hill seemed to hint towards a possible ASU comeback as they headed into extras.
That was not the case, though, as just like the previous seven innings of the game, Garcia halted the Sun Devils bats in their tracks in the eighth inning.
The bottom of the eight would see the demise of the Sun Devils as Royalty would allow another inning open base runner, but this time UCLA would not miss their chance as junior outfielder Aaliyah Jordan would hit a double towards the gap in right field to send the Bruins home happy with a 2-1 victory.
The Sun Devils offense struggled throughout most of the game before having a short spurt in the bottom of the seventh. However, their pitching kept ASU in it and made it competitive against the No. 2 ranked team in the nation. Not a shameful loss to one of the best players and best teams in college softball right now. They look to avenge this loss tomorrow in a doubleheader against UCLA, where they continue their opening series of the Pac-12 season.
