UCLA Racks Up 30 Strikeouts in Wins Versus Tennessee and Baylor

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – The No. 6 UCLA softball team won both games of its double-header versus No. 17 Tennessee, 2-1, and Baylor, 7-4, behind 30 combined strikeouts from its pitching staff and two home runs by redshirt junior Maya Brady. Both Megan Faraimo and Holly Azevedo established new career-high strikeout totals of 18 and 12, respectively.
 
Faraimo also matched the nation's single-game high strikeout total against the Volunteers in her third complete-game victory of the season.
 
Faraimo settled in after allowing a homer and double to her first two batters to begin the game, retiring the next six Volunteers she faced and striking out five of them. Faraimo retired the last nine batters she faced in order and struck out the side in the top half of both the seventh and eighth innings.
 
Brady evened the score with her first home run since Opening Day, a solo shot to left center field in the bottom of the fourth.
 
Redshirt senior Kinsley Washington was placed on second base in the bottom of the eighth as the international tiebreaker rule went into effect. Godin laid down a sacrifice bunt which moved Washington over into scoring position. In the next at-bat, freshman Savannah Pola hit a line drive to center field which allowed Washington to tag up and score the walk-off, game-winning run.
 
The Bruins' bats came alive in the first inning against Baylor. Brady launched her second home run of the day – a three-run shot to opposite field again. Redshirt senior Briana Perez followed suit and went back-to-back with a home run to left center field of her own to cap the four-run frame.
 
Holly Azevedo kept the Bears at bay until the seventh inning, striking out 12 batters to earn her fifth win of the year.
 
After Baylor strung together three straight hits to scratch its first run across the board, redshirt junior Anna Vines singled down the left field line to bring UCLA's lead back to four, 5-1. Pola tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth with a 2-RBI double to left center field. She ranks 2nd on the team with 12 RBI.
 
The Bears rallied with three straight hits and a sacrifice fly to score three more runs before Lauren Shaw recorded the game's final out.