The University of California, Los Angeles softball team recorded its 19th run-rule victory of the season with a 13-3 win over Rutgers on March 22. The game, played at the Rutgers Softball Complex, marked the Bruins’ 900th career win under head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez, making her the 55th coach in NCAA Division I softball history to reach that milestone.
This achievement comes as UCLA extended its winning streak to 21 games and homered for the 22nd consecutive contest. The Bruins have also won each of their first three Big Ten Conference series after opening conference play with sweeps against Wisconsin and Michigan State.
Freshman Bri Alejandre led UCLA’s offense by going two for three with four runs batted in and hitting her twelfth home run of the season. Senior Megan Grant reached base in all four plate appearances and hit her conference-leading twenty-third home run. This homer moved Grant into second place on UCLA’s career home run list with seventy-two, passing Maya Brady and trailing only Stacey Nuveman’s record of ninety.
The Bruins built an early lead through two-out rallies in each of the first two innings. Freshman pitcher Natalie Cable earned her sixth win of the season by allowing three earned runs on five hits across five innings pitched.
Rutgers managed to score three runs through home runs by Baileigh Burtis and Sam Rohwer but could not overcome UCLA’s strong offensive showing. Defensive plays from Aleena Garcia and Sofia Mujica helped limit further scoring threats from Rutgers.
UCLA will close out its three-game series at Rutgers tomorrow night at 3 p.m. Pacific Time on the Big Ten Network.
