BAKERSFIELD, Calif.-- The CSUB softball team will head to Los Angeles this weekend for the UCLA Tournament. Bakersfield will play five games over three days against four opponents.
The Roadrunners are coming off a tough weekend at the University of the Pacific Libby Matson Tournament in Stockton, Calif. Bakersfield had to wait out the rain in order to play and suffered a loss against No. 2/7 Washington and two losses against the host team, Pacific. Karissa Veiga (Sr., Hemet, Calif., Hemet HS) continued her hot hitting by going 4-10 on the weekend with one of those hits going for a triple. Veiga is now hitting .406 on the season and leads the 'Runners in batting average, hits, triples, RBI, stolen bases, and runs scored.
Bakersfield relied heavily on the arm of its veteran starter, Kelsie Monroe (Jr., Los Banos, Calif., San Joaquin Delta College) in Pacific's tournament. The junior righthander got the start in all three games and pitched 16.1 of the team's 19.2 innings. Monroe added to her team-leading strikeout total of 35 by fanning 8 more batters in the set of games.
CSUB will have the first ever meetings with two different teams at the UCLA Tournament: Charleston Southern and Loyola-Chicago. LCU enters the tourney after finishing their previous weekend 2-2. Jessica Balzano leads the Ramblers in hitting (.316 BA) while Brittany Gardner heads the pitching staff with a 3.96 ERA and a 4-5 record. CSU hosted their own tournament last weekend, finishing the set with a 3-2 record. The Buccaneers have two quality starting pitchers in Cheyenne Gandara and Jennifer Giles who each have an ERA under 2.50.
The 'Runners will meet UNLV for the fifth time in the programs' histories while the Rebels have won all four previous meetings. UNLV comes off of a 1-2 weekend at the Eller Media Stadium Classic in Las Vegas. Pauline Monreal leads the team in batting average, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, total bases and strikeouts.
UCLA will meet the 'Runners in the last game of the tournament. The game will mark the sixth overall meeting between the two teams with the last two coming in 2013. The Bruins won both of those games last season and head into the weekend as the No. 3/4 team in the nation. UCLA comes into their own tournament having lost their first game of the season to Michigan. The Bruins are led offensively by Delaney Spaulding (.402, 3 HR, 17 RBI), while Ally Carda (10-1, 1.03 ERA) leads a pitching staff with an overall ERA of 1.04.
The 'Runners kickoff the tournament against LCU at 2 p.m. on Friday, then have two games on Saturday and Sunday. Links to the live stats for each game can be found on the softball schedule page as well as a link to a free audio broadcast of Bakersfield's game against UCLA on Sunday.
~www.GoRunners.com~
