No. 5 UCLA Tops Lehigh 8-0 in Opening Game of NCAA Regional

Friday, May 19

Los Angeles, Calif.

11:30PM ET

Lehigh University

36-19

UCLA

43-13

Lehigh

UCLA

No. 5 UCLA Tops Lehigh 8-0 in Opening Game of NCAA Regional

5/20/2017 3:06:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – UCLA's Rachel Garcia hurled a complete game no hitter in the first round of the NCAA Regional Softball Tournament on Friday evening to lead the No. 5 Bruins past Lehigh by a score of 8-0 in five innings. After a scoreless first two innings, UCLA scored six runs in the third and fourth innings, all after two outs. The defeat drops Lehigh to 36-19 on the season, while UCLA improves to 43-13. Lehigh will now play in an elimination game against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, who fell 3-0 on Friday to San Jose State.

Senior Christine Campbell started in the circle for the Mountain Hawks and retired eight of the first nine batters she faced. She allowed four runs while scattering five hits and striking out three over three innings of work. Garcia struck out eight Lehigh hitters over five innings while facing just one batter over the minimum. Her performance was one of five no hitters nationwide in Friday's opening round of tournament action.

"We started out fairly strong," said head coach Fran Troyan. "Christine pitched pretty well the first couple innings, and then made a couple mistakes. Against a team like UCLA, mistakes are not good because the get put over the fence, and they certainly did that today."

(5/19/2017) Lehigh at UCLA - NCAA Regional

After each team was set down in order in the first, senior Vicky Lattanzio was hit by a pitch leading off the top of the second inning. Junior Lindsay Phillips pinch ran and got over to third base with two outs following a throwing error by the catcher on a pick-off attempt, but Garcia came back with an inning-ending strikeout to strand the runner at third.

After a one-out double in the bottom of the second inning, UCLA moved the runner to third with two outs when sophomore Ashley Rabago kept the game scoreless with a huge leaping catch on the warning track in center field to end the inning.

After Campbell picked up back-to-back strikeouts to begin the bottom of the third, Delaney Spaulding got the Bruins on the board with a line drive home run to right-center field to put UCLA up 1-0. The homer was the first of four consecutive hits as Perez singled to right field, Brianna Tautalafua knocked an RBI double to center field, and Madeline Jelenicki clubbed a two-run homer to center field to make it 4-0.

Sophomore Emily Sorem took over in the circle in the fourth inning for Lehigh and retired the first two batters she faced before UCLA tacked on two more runs. Paige Halstead drew a two-out walk, and advanced to third on a base hit and bobble in right field. Spaulding then stepped up and drove a double to right field to plate both runners and make it a 6-0 game.

Tautalafua led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run to straight away center field to move the score to 7-0, before UCLA used a pair of hits to get runners to second and third with one out. Bubba Nickles stepped in and lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left field, scoring the runner from third to end the game at 8-0.

"Garcia threw a very nice game," Troyan said. "We got behind in the count and we're supposed to lay off the high pitches early in the count and make her come down in the zone. But when she got ahead, we had to chase things with two strikes."

Saturday's elimination game will be streamed live on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. The winner of that game will advance to play the loser of UCLA/San Jose State at 7 p.m.

"We got to watch Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State," Troyan said. "They're both quality opponents as well. We've got to get our sea legs and just go out there, compete and play Lehigh softball."