Well-Rounded Effort for Bruins

Sophomore Selina Ta'amilo struck out five in her 12th victory of the season. Photo is courtesy of UCLA

LOS ANGELES - The 13th-ranked Bruins got clutch hitting from junior Delaney Spaulding, great pitching by sophomore Selina Ta'amilo and outstanding defense from all around the diamond on Monday, defeating Stanford, 2-1, to finish off a three-game sweep of the Cardinal at Easton Stadium.

The Bruins improve to 25-11-1 overall and 7-3-1 in Pac-12 play, while the Cardinal fall to 13-20 and 0-9 in league action.

Ta'amilo moved to 12-3 on the season, striking out five in a complete-game effort. She held Stanford
to a run, five hits and four walks. Ta'amilo struck out two in the first and added 1-2-3 frames in the third and sixth. At the plate, Spaulding had a pair of RBI hits, while sophomore Kylee Perez added two hits, as UCLA had seven hits as a team.

For the third-straight game against the Cardinal, the Bruins scored in their first at-bat. Senior Allexis Bennett led off with a walk, moved to third on a double to center by Perez and scored on an RBI single up the middle from Spaulding.

Stanford evened things up in the second on a bases-loaded hit by pitch of Kayla Bonstrom, which scored Haley Snyder.

The Bruins, and the Cardinal for that matter, were making great plays all over the field during the course of the contest. Two pitches into the game, freshman Paige Halstead made a diving catch in right field. In the fourth, the Bruins turned their nation-leading 29th double play of the season, while senior Mysha Sataraka made a nice juggling catch near the plate to end the frame. An inning later, freshman Brianna Tautalafua made a nice diving snare of a line drive in foul ground.

UCLA finally got the lead back in the fifth, thanks again to Spaulding. With one out, Perez singled to center and came home on Spaulding's RBI double to the right-center field gap to put the home team up by one.

Stanford had the tying run at third in the seventh inning, but Ta'amilo got a force out to end the game and finish off the Bruins' sweep of the Cardinal.

UCLA continues its seven-game homestand on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. contest against CSUN. Live audio and live stats will be available on UCLABruins.com.