UCLA's Johaa Grauer tosses no-hitter in UCLA softball win

As the idea of perfection danced in UCLA pitcher Johaa Grauer’s head, her teammates kept her calm. One pitch at a time, one iing at a time.

Grauer came one out away from UCLA’s first seven-iing perfect game since 1991, giving up a walk with two outs in the seventh, but she tossed a no-hitter to lead the Bruins to a 7-0 win over Cal State Bakersfield in the first round of the NCAA Los Angeles Regional on Friday at Easton Stadium. Grauer, a sophomore who was an honorable mention All-Pac-12 freshman last season playing behind two-time conference player of the year Ally Carda, struck out four in her first collegiate no-hitter.

“Every iing, we just had a new plan and we talked about the batters coming up,” UCLA catcher Madeline Jelenicki said. “With that preparation and that plan of attack in our head, the no-hitter wasn’t really a thought. We were trying to win every iing.”

It was UCLA’s first seven-iing no-hitter since Carda on Feb. 15, 2015 against Boise State and the 14th postseason no-hitter in Bruins history, the first since Keira Goerl on May 20, 2004 against Mississippi Valley State.

After losing Carda and having injuries decimate their pitching rotation, the Bruins, who will face Cal State Fullerton at noon on Saturday in the wier’s bracket, were left with two inexperienced sophomores in the circle in Grauer and Selina Ta’amilo. As a result, the team adopted a “nine-on-one” mentality dependent on team defense that backs up the pitcher. Friday’s victory was a shining example of UCLA’s team-first mindset as the Grauer got 13 groundouts and four fly outs.

“The coolest part of tonight was the defense. There were some really good plays,” said Grauer, who admitted losing the perfect game was “disappointing.”

“Our team motto all season has been never satisfied, so as great of a stat as that is, we’re not done because this is just the first game of postseason and we still have a lot to do.”

Jelenicki took the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the fifth iing over the left-field fence for a home run to break up a pitchers’ duel.

Bakersfield’s Amber Mills kept UCLA down in the first four iings, only giving up one hit, but Jelenicki’s homer broke the dam open for the Bruins (39-13-1) as they collected four hits in the iing.

After Jelenicki’s home run, Gabrielle Maurice hit a double and scored on a Paige Haltead two-run homer two batters later. Maurice added a grand slam in the fifth iing following three consecutive walks from Mills.

“They can be tied, they can be behind or they can be ahead and they just have this ability to be contagious,” UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said of her team’s hitting ability. “And it starts from their mindsets. They truly believe they can.”

Bakersfield (16-33) eaed its first-ever postseason appearance as a Division I program after wiing the WAC Touament. Despite entering the touament with a six-game losing streak, the Road Ruers won three straight games to ea the NCAA Regional bid.

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Saturday schedule:

Game 1: UCLA vs. Cal State Fullerton, noon

Game 2: Fresno State vs. Cal State Bakersfield, 3 p.m.

Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 wier, 6 p.m.

All games at Easton Stadium