As she retired batter after batter last week, Rachel Garcia created tension … among her teammates. The UCLA pitcher would have had to know she was throwing a no-hitter to get nervous about it.
Garcia was unaware she was on the verge of something special until Bruins assistant coach Kirk Walker clued her in following the five-inning no-hitter that gave UCLA’s softball team an 8-0 victory over Lehigh in an NCAA tournament regional opener.
“For a second, I was like, ‘What?’” recalled Garcia, whose only imperfection was hitting a batter to start the second inning.