JANA SUMMERS Sophomore Natasha Watley,
who leads the Bruins in steals this season, takes off from second
base in a game last month. Arizona 4, UCLA 0
UCLA 1, ASU 0 UCLA 8, ASU 6
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Reporter
The trial may be over, but the verdict is far from in.
With a 4-0 loss to top-ranked Arizona on Friday, followed by the
Bruins sweeping Saturday’s doubleheader at No. 9 Arizona
State, the UCLA softball team completed its regular season
schedule. But the regular season was just semantics for the
second-ranked Bruins, as they will now prepare to host a six-team,
NCAA Regional affair set to begin on Thursday at Easton Stadium
“Overall I think it was a good weekend because we got
spanked a little bit on Friday night and then on Saturday we took
care of business, and I think that’s how it’s going to
be in playoffs,” UCLA junior catcher Stacey Nuveman said.
“We have to take confidence in that we were able to sweep
Arizona State, and at this point little victories are victories
nonetheless, and that’s really what we needed.”
The Bruins (55-5, 16-5 Pac-10) held a slim chance at capturing
the Pac-10 crown going into the weekend, but were unable to topple
the Wildcats (57-4, 19-2) in front of a record crowd of 3,004 at
Hillenbrand Stadium.
According to UCLA Head Coach Sue Enquist, the team played
tentatively and failed to execute its offensive game plan. The
Bruins threatened multiple times, including a pair of rallies in
the fifth and seventh inning, both of which ended with outs by
freshman outfielder Stephanie Ramos.
UCLA freshman pitcher Keira Goerl (25-2), who earlier in the
year shut out Arizona, allowed three solo home runs in the loss,
including No. 18 and No. 19 by freshman first baseman Leneah
Manuma.
On Saturday, the Bruins came out determined to regroup and
redefine the importance of carrying out their offensive
strategy.
Senior pitcher Courtney Dale blanked the Sun Devils (34-20,
9-12) in the first game. The lone run of the game was scored in the
fourth inning when junior centerfielder Amanda Freed reached on an
error with the bases loaded, scoring sophomore Tairia Mims and
giving UCLA the 1-0 victory.
The Bruins looked like they would run away with the second game,
especially when they had a 5-1 lead by the fourth inning and a 6-2
advantage heading into the bottom of the seventh. But Goerl, after
allowing a couple of singles and a wild pitch, allowed a two-run
double to Sun Devil sophomore shortstop Kara Burn. The four-run ASU
rally concluded when Goerl allowed the tying run to cross home with
her second wild pitch of the inning.
But the Bruins rebounded, as the leadoff runner got on base in
the eighth inning and was later driven in with a sacrifice fly.
Nuveman added insurance with an RBI single. The two-hour, 45-minute
affair ended 8-6, giving UCLA a little taste for postseason
excitement.
“It’s kind of like the variety that we’re
going to get in the postseason,” Nuveman said.
“We’re going to win some one-run ballgames and
we’re going to win some nine-run ballgames. It’s just
the nature of the beast. It’s always nice to win 6-0 and just
leave no doubt, but at the same time there are going to be
situations where we’re going to win on an error.”
The weekend didn’t go as perfectly for the Bruins as they
may have hoped, but overall, the team is upbeat about their
progress during the regular season and are ready to do some damage
in the upcoming NCAA Regionals.
“We have momentum because we executed and got it done, we
have confidence because (the players) executed their strategy, but
at the same time we’ve been humbled by letting ASU back in
the ballgame,” Enquist said. “All of it is a good
combination of things to bring from the weekend because you
don’t want to be overconfident going into postseason.
I’m happy that we got to take a lot of things from this
weekend that we’ll be able to use this week.”