JANA SUMMERS After beating Oregon Friday, freshman
pitcher Keira Goerl avenged her only loss of the
year by defeating OSU 4-1 on Sunday. UCLA d.
Oregon, 6-4 UCLA d. OSC, 4-0, 4-1
By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter
If the Bruins sweep their apartments as often as they sweep
their competition, their kitchens must be immaculate.
No. 2 UCLA (53-4, 14-4 Pac-10) completed the season sweep of the
Oregon Ducks (25-36, 1-17) Friday 6-4, and twice avenged an earlier
loss to No. 14 Oregon State (40-22-1, 7-10) by taking down the
Beavers Saturday 4-0 and Sunday 4-1.
UCLA has swept three of its last four weekend series and has won
12 of its last 13 conference games.
On Sunday, junior catcher Stacey Nuveman was the offensive hero
of the game, with a two-run home run and an RBI double. Sophomore
Tairia Mims’ flyout in the first inning allowed sophomore
Natasha Watley to tag up and score the first run of the game.
But the Bruin defense cost freshman Keira Goerl (24-1) the
shutout when it committed two errors in the second inning. OSU
sophomore Shelly Prochaska reached first on a fielding error by
Mims, and later scored on a throwing error by Watley.
Goerl scattered five hits over seven innings and struck out four
without a walk in defeating the only team to beat her this year.
OSU junior Crystal Draper (26-10) allowed eight hits and struck out
four with two walks.
“We weren’t perfect ““ we broke down a couple
times defensively, but we executed. Keira shut them down, and we
came in and scored runs,” said UCLA Head Coach Sue
Enquist.
Saturday, the Bruins defeated Oregon State 4-0. While the Bruins
were able to manufacture their runs via six hits and four walks
against freshman Beaver pitcher Monica Hoffman (11-12), senior
Courtney Dale (6-0) limited OSU to five hits over seven innings to
keep OSU scoreless. In fact, no Beaver got to third base until the
seventh inning.
“We weren’t as crisp on defense as we had been and
Monica didn’t throw extremely well,” OSU Head Coach
Kirk Walker said.
Friday, the Bruin defense almost caused UCLA an embarrassing
loss to the last-place Oregon Ducks. The fielding miscues were so
glaring that Enquist put all the infielders back on the field after
the game for more than 20 minutes of extra practice.
After the top half of the first inning, in which Oregon
sophomore Andrea Vidlund hit a three-run homer, Enquist furiously
laced into the team.
“It’s a little unnerving for us because we’re
making that same mistake over and over and over. We’re not
getting it done,” she said. “They were playing
embarrassing softball.”
Junior Crissy Buck was singled out for a lecture after the team
huddle, due to a play in which freshman Claire Sua couldn’t
get the lead runner out at second base because Buck was away from
the bag.
“She just told me to sharpen up on defense,” Buck
said.
Oregon added another run in the top of the fourth, making it
4-0, but the Bruins took it from there. A hit parade ensued in the
bottom of the fourth, tying the game. UCLA completed the scoring
with two more runs in the fifth to make it a 6-4 victory. Goerl
gave up six hits and struck out nine in her complete-game win.
Enquist said that the Bruins needn’t live by the home run
ball, as they sometimes tend to do.
“One person doesn’t have to do it. We’re going
to single them to death,” she said.
Oregon junior pitcher Connie McMurren (8-16) took the loss and
remarked about UCLA’s comeback fourth stanza.
“They got a couple lucky hits to start out the
inning,”she said.
Lucky or not, the Bruins woke up in that fourth inning and kept
momentum over the homestand to climb three wins closer to their
rubber game with No. 1 Arizona next weekend.
Even with a sweep next weekend, UCLA will need at least one game
of help from No. 12 Washington, Arizona’s opponents in a
doubleheader next Saturday, in order to claim the Pac-10 title.