By Greg Lewis
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
OKLAHOMA CITY “”mdash; UCLA and Washington will meet for the
fourth time this season Friday at 4 p.m.
So far it’s Huskies 2, UCLA 1.
The Huskies (62-7) issued the challenge to the defending
champion Bruins by defeating a scrappy DePaul Blue Demon team in
the first game of this year’s College World Series.
UCLA (44-11) answered it by crushing Alabama’s spirits,
coming back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Crimson Tide in the
following game.
DePaul quickly got things going on the top-ranked Huskies in the
first inning on a Shavanughne Desecki two-run home run to take the
lead, 2-0.
“They took us by surprise,” Huskies shortstop Rosie
Leutzinger said. “But we have enough confidence in our team
to know that we still have seven innings to go.”
The Huskies came back in the bottom of the next inning to score
the game’s final three runs.
Washington entered the World Series as the top seed and odds-on
favorite to win the title. The Huskies, who lost to the Bruins 3-2
in last year’s championship game, knew they would have to go
through UCLA to win the championship, and now they have their
chance.
In April, Washington pulled ahead late in the game to beat UCLA
3-1 in Seattle. The following day, Bruin pitcher Amanda Freed beat
Husky ace Jennifer Spediacci 1-0 in a nationally televised
game.
But in the last week of the season, UCLA got off to a slow start
and could not catch the Huskies, losing 4-1. In that game Stephanie
Swenson pitched excellently, according to UCLA head coach Sue
Enquist, but got no help from the offense.
Spediacci, who said that she has lost the touch on her curveball
recently, pitched against the Blue Demons, but look for Jamie
Graves to get the start against the Bruins Friday afternoon. With
Courtney Dale still not at 100 percent, Freed will most likely
start again for the Bruins.
In the Huskies, the Bruins will go up against the most balanced
lineup in softball, with the two best power hitters in the game in
Jenny Topping and Jaime Clark.
The Bruins have a habit of bouncing back from subpar games with
big outputs.
“We cannot play defense like we did today and expect to
win. If we play like that, it won’t even be a game,”
Enquist said.
“We love to play teams in the Pac-10 because they are
always so close,” she added. “Both clubs know each
other so well, it’s going to be a real close game. It will
come down to whomever can be resilient and bounce back the
best.”
The winner of the UCLA-Washington showdown will have the inside
track to the championship game. With the double-elimination format,
the winner will be guaranteed a day’s rest and, in the
following game, an opponent who has already lost. The loser will
drop down to the loser’s bracket and be forced to play two
more games in order to reach the championship game.
DePaul (40-21) will face Alabama (65-13) in an elimination game
Saturday.
In the other bracket, California thought it had a win over
third-seeded Oklahoma wrapped up, but instead the Bears gave up a
two-run single to Christy Ring to lose 2-1.
Also in one of the most impressive performances in NCAA history,
Southern Mississippi’s Courtney Blades pitched a perfect game
against the nation’s top-hitting team to set the NCAA record
with her 150th win. Southern Mississippi (62-11) will face Oklahoma
(63-8).
Cal will go up against Arizona (57-8) in the second elimination
game on Saturday. An NCAA record 6,856 fans came to watch the
hometown Sooners beat the Golden Bears.