The CSUF softball team will end their non-conference schedule with their biggest test this season, as they will visit No. 1 UCLA tonight.
The top-ranked Bruins come into the match-up at 28-1, with their two most recent wins against Big West opponent’s Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara. UCLA’s only loss this season was from No. 25 Michigan in the Judi Garman Classic earlier this month.
UCLA is led by pitcher and first baseman Rachel Garcia, who is 13-0 for the season and pitched seven complete games, four of them being shutouts. The right-hander has dominated in the circle for the Bruins, as her 0.50 ERA and the team’s 1.17 both rank second in the country.
The Bruins make use of every opportunity to get on base and score, as their .353 batting average ties for sixth in the country, and scored a run in every game this year.
CSUF go into Westwood with a 20-12 record after winning the final game of a three-game series against Loyola Marymount, but dropping the first two games.
In Friday’s win, senior Ari Williams went 3 for 5 coupled with a season-high of four RBIs and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Williams leads the team with 25 RBIs and has a team-high of five home runs this year. The Moreno Valley native also leads the conference in stolen bases, with 11 for the season.
Leading the Titans in hitting is second baseman Alexa Neil, who got her second consecutive Big West Freshman of the Week honors on Monday. Neil is hitting .409 for the season, ranking fourth in the conference, and her nine stolen bases is second in the conference behind Williams.
.@alexaneil42 is celebrating her birthday with her second straight (third overall) @BigWestSoftball Freshman of the Week Award!
Congrats Lex! #TusksUp
?: https://t.co/fFVkMHQde2 pic.twitter.com/gS4frm4d4t
— Titans Softball (@Fullerton_SB) March 25, 2019
The Titans pitching staff is led by the platoon of Sophie Frost, Dani Martinez and Taylor Dockins, who all rank in the top eight in conference ERA. Dockins is fifth at 2.16, Martinez is sixth at 2.41 and Frost is eighth at 2.70.
Frost is fourth in the Big West in wins with nine, and fifth in strikeouts with 64, while Martinez’s 80 strikeouts is third.
The game will be the 10th time the Titans and Bruins will face each other in the past three years, with UCLA winning nine of them. In each of those years, CSUF ’s season ended with a loss to UCLA in the Los Angeles Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
After both teams won their opening match-up of the national tournament last season, the Titans secured their first win against UCLA since 2013.
Just needing one more win to advance to their first Super Regional since 2007, CSUF fell to the Bruins, 3-0. With one more game to decide the winner of the Los Angeles Regional, UCLA defeated the Titans once more, 6-4, en route to the Bruins’ fourth straight Women’s College World Series appearance.
First pitch in Easton Stadium will be at 5 p.m.
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