Bruins hit two slams in rout of Ohio State

UCLA SOFTBALL

UCLA’s Kaitlyn Terry (55) hugs Megan Grant after her grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning ended the Bruins’ 14-6 win. Mac Brown / UCLA Athletics

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By Haley Sawyer

hsawyer@scng.com

LOS ANGELES — The UCLA softball team hit two grand slams Friday night to beat Ohio State 14-6 in five innings.

The teams will meet again tonight to finish the two-game series at Easton Stadium.

Kaitlyn Terry hit a grand slam in her first at-bat and pitched all five innings. The sophomore lefty gave up seven hits and struck out seven while walking three.

Terry’s first home run as a Bruin went over the wall in left-center field to score Liesl Osteen, Sofia Mujica and Kaniya Bragg and give the No. 9 Bruins (34-5 overall, 7-1 Big Ten) a 5-2 lead.

The second grand slam was a walk-off courtesy of Megan Grant, her second homer of the game, in the bottom of the fifth. Leadoff hitter Jessica Clements and Savannah Pola doubled to start the inning — Pola alertly taking second on a bunt hit back to pitcher Layna Gerhard — and Jordan Woolery walked to load the bases with no outs.

Grant, who was 2 for 4 with seven RBIs, crushed the second pitch to right to end the game on the mercy rule.

Ohio State, which came in leading the country with 91 home runs, took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on solo home runs by sophomores Sami Bewick and Jasmyn Burns.

The Bruins responded in the second with Terry’s grand slam to make it 5-2.

No. 21 Ohio State (30-7-1, 6-2) made a pitching change and brought in Kennedy Kay for Lorin Boutte. UCLA kept the hits coming.

After Pola tripled and Woolery walked, Grant, who had a .957 slugging percentage going into the game, homered over the right-field wall for her 16th of the season, a new single-season high for the junior.

The Buckeyes used their aggressiveness at the plate to rally for three runs in the top of the third inning. Burns homered for the second time to put up two more runs and Kaitlyn Farley tripled to left field to score Reagan Milliken. Farley made a dash for home, but Jessica Clements made the throw from center field to Mujica at catcher for the out.

The Bruins added a run in the third on a Woolery RBI single and another in the fourth on Bragg’s sixth homer of the season for a 10-5 lead.