Feb. 10, 2012
LOS ANGELES – UCLA hit three home runs and benefited from five Kentucky errors as the Bruins earned a 12-0 victory late Friday night in Los Angeles. With the loss Kentucky drops to 1-2 on the year and UCLA improves to 2-0.
Kentucky will return to action with its final game in Los Angeles as the Wildcats will play UCLA for a third time in as many days. First pitch is slated for 5:30 p.m. ET.
Sophomore Emily Jolly had a nice day at the plate for UK reaching base in both plate appearances. She laced a single into right field in the fourth and also reached by a walk in the second.
In a last-ditch effort to plate runs in the fifth, junior Kara Dill got on base thanks to an error by the Bruins’ first baseman with one out in the inning. Dill swiped her first base of the season and then moved to third on a poor throw by the catcher attempting to catch Dill stealing. Senior pinch hitter Erika Silence then drew a five-pitch walk to place runners on the corners. Senior Brittany Cervantes loaded the bases with a two-out walk to keep the inning alive for UK. Kentucky could not convert the opportunity as the inning ended on a grounder to short.
The Bruins jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when leadoff batter Katie Schroeder connected for a homer in the top of the first. Sophomore starting pitcher Lauren Cumbess and the UK defense quieted the bats after the opening long ball which included a pair of strikeouts by the Wildcats’ hurler. UK’s offense generated a walk by senior Rachel Riley, but UK would leave the runner stranded with a deep fly out to center.
UCLA tacked on an additional four runs in the top of the second as the Bruins benefited from three Wildcat errors and four hits to capture a 6-0 advantage.
Cumbess drove a ball that was mishandled by the Bruins’ first baseman to leadoff the second. Jolly then drew a walk to place a pair of runners on the base paths to begin the stanza. UK, however, suffered three consecutive outs to end the inning despite the runners shifting into scoring position on a passed ball.
UCLA earned its third solo homer of the game in the top of the third and then plated two more runs in the visitor’s side of the fourth to extend its advantage to 9-0.
In the home half of the fourth Jolly roped a single into right field with one out to get another runner on base for the Cats. Jolly shifted to second on a grounder back to first base by Emily Gaines. The speedy Jolly then swiped third to move into prime scoring position, but the inning ended with her still aboard.
UCLA tacked on an additional three runs in the top of the fifth to stretch the lead to 12-0. The Bruins notched three runs on three hits and also benefited from another Wildcat error in the stanza.
Follow along with the UK softball program all season long at UKathletics.com.
