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The UCLA softball team earned the No. 6 national seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, as announced on ESPN’s bracket reveal show.
The Bruins will host the Los Angeles Regional at Easton Stadium and will first play Grand Canyon (48-11) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be shown on ESPN+.
Unseeded San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton will also compete in the tournament.
UCLA (37-10) was crowned the Pac-12 regular season champion and beat Utah 2-1 to win the Pac-12 Tournament on Saturday. Sharlize Palacios hit her fifth home run in the last 11 games for the go-ahead run in the championship game.
“We’re clicking in a very special way,” Palacios, the Pac-12 Tournament Most Valuable Player, said.
“It doesn’t take just one Bruin to win a ball game for us. We’ve had a lot of players be able to hit the game-winner for us, so it’s going to take all of the Bruins to get us to OKC, but I think it’s going to be a special run for us.”
Maya Brady is the back-to-back Pac-12 Player of the Year and has been a major component of the offense with a team-leading .403 batting average and 15 home runs. Pitchers Taylor Tinsley (15-8) and Kaitlyn Terry (18-1) own 2.44 and 3.25 ERAs, respectively.
UCLA is on an eight-game win streak but struggled to get consistent results until the middle of the season.
“We’re super happy with the journey and we’ve been trusting the process throughout this entire season,” Palacios said. “We’ve been digging deep into Bruin magic and leveling up has been our mantra. Now we just get to play, have fun, trust each other.”
San Diego State (31-18) and Virginia Tech will also compete in the double-elimination Los Angeles Regional.
The Aztecs, who also had a graduation commencement on Sunday, have eight seniors on the roster. The Mountain West regular season champions beat Boise State for the conference tournament title on Saturday.
Junior utility Mac Barbara was named the Mountain West Tournament’s Most Valuable Player and ranks first in program history in terms of on-base percentage (.481) and OPS percentage (1.221).
Cal State Fullerton (36-17) will travel to Palo Alto for the Stanford Regional and will play Mississippi State (33-18) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. PT on ESPN+.
The Titans earned the Big West title on Saturday night by beating Long Beach State 10-4 to finish off the three-game conference series.
Senior Megan Delgadillo has slashed .420/.444/.527 with 10 doubles this season. Hannah Becerra has hit a team-high 10 home runs and is hitting .344.
Haley Rainey and Staci Chambers have shared time in the circle and hold respective ERAs of 1.76 and 2.16. Rainey has compiled a 17-6 record, while Chambers is 16-6.
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Courtesy : https://www.pressenterprise.com/2024/05/12/ucla-softball-earns-no-6-seed-will-host-los-angeles-regional-to-start-ncaa-tournament/