Sharlize Palacios, UCLA softball rout Grand Canyon in NCAA regional opener

LOS ANGELES — There’s a softball nesting in the pines right behind Easton Stadium’s right field wall.

Blame UCLA catcher Sharlize Palacios for that.

It traveled there off the end of her bat in the second inning to give the Bruins a six-run lead against Grand Canyon. It soared a few feet higher than the second one she hit three innings later, which put an early end to Game 2 of the Los Angeles Regional on Friday night.

“I like hitting to the outside part of the field,” Palacios said. “I’m just trying to stay loose.”

That simple trick must be the formula to her hitting seven home runs over the last 12 games.

Palacios contributed to five runs in the Bruins’ 9-0 victory over the Antelopes, which ended in the fifth inning because of the run-rule. She helped UCLA (38-10) advance to play Virginia Tech (40-12-1) on Saturday at 2 p.m. Grand Canyon (48-11) will face San Diego State (31-18) in an elimination game at approximately 4:30 p.m.

“Hitting is contagious and this team did a great job,” head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “That overshadowed the freshman K.T. (UCLA pitcher Kaitlyn Terry), what she did in the circle.”

Terry (19-1) pitched five shutout innings, giving up just two hits, while striking out seven. If not for her brilliance – notably her ability to work out of a second-inning jam – Palacios’ second home run might not have incited the run-rule that early.

“If she makes a mistake and a hitter gets a hit, she can lock back in,” Inouye-Perez said about Terry. “Long balls are part of the game in this day and age, but it’s not the hit or what happens. It’s what you do next and she settled in.”

After shortstop Maya Brady scored on Megan Grant’s sacrifice fly to give UCLA a 1-0 lead, Terry almost conceded that advantage right back to the Antelopes.

In the bottom of the second, GCU’s Katelyn Dunckel hit a one-out single, then advanced to third after Makaiya Gomez doubled off her. Terry, though, struck out the next two batters to keep Grand Canyon scoreless.

Six of her seven payoff pitches nestled on the outside corner. Four of which got Antelopes looking. She broke that trend in the top of the fourth only to whiz a fastball past the swinging bat of Ramsay Lopez.

“KT is really locked in,” Palacios said. “She’s just going through her process. Those outside pitches were dotted, she was doing a really good job.”

Rather than the offense overshadow her performance, as Inouye-Perez put it, she sparked theirs.

At this point, there’s no question whether Maya Brady has the proverbial green light when facing a 3-and-0 count. That’s the level of confidence bestowed upon players who earn consecutive Pac-12 Player of the Year awards, as the Bruins shortstop has.

“I was lucky enough to be here with the Rachel Garcias and the Bri Perezs and the Aaliyah Jordans,” Brady said of her tenure at UCLA. “I felt like I could kind of hang on their coattails and just try to hit, and play center, and whatever. But I think this year, more than ever, my leadership has been super important.”

It showed in the bottom of the second inning when Brady found herself in a spot where most players wouldn’t have been ceded unconditional freedom.

UCLA was ahead 1-0. The bases were loaded, with nowhere to put her. She had watched three balls pass by. Instead of waiting for a fourth, she pounced on the next pitch, lofting it into center field for a double.

Brady had three hits, two RBIs and scored two runs. Her second-inning hit scored Seneca Curo and Thessa Malau’ulu. She got the Bruins’ bats going before Palacios completely broke the game open.

UCLA added one more in the third inning when Jadelyn Allchin doubled home Malau’ulu for her second run of the game before Palacios’ second shot sent the Antelopes packing early.

Like her first deep shot, which is presumably still nested in those trees, the Bruins left no doubt that they weren’t succumbing to a similar fate as last season.

On Wednesday, head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez didn’t let that predictable storyline – regarding UCLA’s loss to GCU in this exact spot last season – breath any air. These are two very different ball clubs, she said, citing the momentum these Bruins have built as a primary reason.

UCLA backed that sentiment up Friday.

“It’s easy when it’s easy, it’s easy just to play ball. It’s tough to lead, especially when you’re being challenged,” Inouye-Perez said. “Every year, there’s a different identity because there are different people, there’s different leadership. That’s what I’m most proud of.”