EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Junior Amanda
Freed pitches during a game against Washington last
month.
By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter
While No. 2 UCLA (50-4, 11-4 Pac-10) runs full speed after
conference leader No. 1 Arizona, who will be the Bruins’
opponent one week from today, UCLA must remember not to trip on the
little bumps in the road.
Only in the Pac-10 would No. 14 Oregon State (39-19-1, 7-7) and
unranked Oregon (25-33, 1-14) be considered little bumps in the
road.
In fact, the Bruins already know what it’s like to bite
the dust at the hands of the Beavers, who bested them 2-1 on April
20 in Corvallis. The Beavers have won seven of their last nine
conference games, enough for them to climb out of the
second-to-last spot in the conference standings they held when they
met UCLA last month. The two teams complete the season series
Friday at 2 p.m.
“Our attack will be different,” UCLA Head Coach Sue
Enquist said. “We did a poor job of maintaining our defense.
We opened the door and Oregon State capitalized on it.”
In fact, the Bruins were so bothered by the defeat that every
player wore someone else’s uniform the next day at Oregon.
Freshman Claire Sua says that the team was looking for a better
focus.
“We were playing with so much pressure on us. We just went
back to having fun and doing things for each other,” she
said. “We just threw all of our uniforms into a pile and
said, “˜I’m going to play for this person and
we’re going to play for each other.'”
But before they exact revenge on Oregon State, the Bruins must
complete the season sweep of Oregon on Saturday at 2 p.m. and
Sunday at 1 p.m. UCLA defeated the Ducks 4-3 and 6-3 last month in
Eugene. In each game, UCLA built a lead, only to have Oregon make a
late charge ““ something that almost felled the Bruins on
Wednesday against Washington.
“We have to stay strong in the circle. I think our
pitchers have done a good job of making the adjustments that they
need,” Enquist said.
In those Oregon games, the Bruins beat sophomores Lisa Wangler
(5-9, 3.71) and Andrea Vidlund (9-8, 4.28) using senior pitcher
Courtney Dale (5-0, 1.00) on Saturday and freshman Keira Goerl
(22-1, 0.93) on Sunday. Oregon’s option that the Bruins
missed while in Eugene is junior Connie McMurren (8-15, 4.25)
Offense is more a strength for Oregon than pitching, though only
sophomores Wangler (.373) and Alyssa Laux (.361) are above .300.
The next closest Duck is junior Missy Coe at .278.
The Bruins are pretty good with the sticks as well. Three Bruins
are over .400 and six more are over .300 with junior Stacey Nuveman
again atop the pack at .428.
Oregon State, however, has only junior Michelle Chariton over
.300 at .308. Eight more Beavers are over .200. Unlike their
in-state rivals, Oregon State’s strength is in its pitching.
Junior Crystal Draper, who beat the Bruins in that earlier meeting,
is 25-9 with a 1.17 ERA. Freshman Monica Hoffman is 11-10 with a
1.61 ERA.
“I’m very confident in Crystal and Monica’s
ability, but I wouldn’t say that I’m confident in their
ability to shut down UCLA’s offense,” said Oregon State
Head Coach Kirk Walker.
The Bruins have been relying on Goerl lately because of the
elbow injury to junior Amanda Freed, who will not pitch but may
play centerfield this weekend.
“Keira’s got great stamina. She can throw two days
in a row and possibly three if she has to,” said Enquist.
The loss at Oregon State was Goerl’s first and only loss
of the year. She said that gives her extra motivation for
Friday’s game.
“I want to beat them even more now,” she said.
The Bruins are ready for their competition this weekend. While
the matchup next weekend at Arizona may be in their minds, they
still must remember to watch out for the little guys.