By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Reporter
OKLAHOMA CITY “”mdash; Despite an abundance of upperclassmen
capable of contributing, it’s the youth of the UCLA softball
team that is producing at the moment.
Freshman pitcher Keira Goerl (27-2) tossed five shutout innings
and got all the run support she needed from another freshman,
designated player Claire Sua, who had a three-run shot to right
field en route to a commanding 5-0 victory over Stanford in
Friday’s game at the Women’s College World Series.
With the win, the second-seeded Bruins (57-5) earn a day off on
Saturday and will have the luxury of needing to win only one of two
games on Sunday to earn a spot in Monday’s NCAA championship
game. Stanford (53-15-1) will play an elimination game Saturday at
4 p.m. against the winner of the California/Michigan game.
“(Getting Saturday off) is a confidence builder for
you,” UCLA Head Coach Sue Enquist said. “There’s
a sense of momentum. I think that most importantly in the first
game you want to get your flow and in the second game you just want
to start executing. And I felt like we did that.”
Things didn’t start out so smoothly for Goerl, who allowed
a hit and walked two batters in the first inning, loading the bases
with two outs. What can be categorized as first-game jitters
didn’t come back to haunt UCLA, though, as Goerl got Cardinal
left fielder Cassi Brangham to fly out in foul territory.
“It was an inning I needed to get out of,” Goerl
said. “It started ugly, but with everyone behind me I knew
that I could turn it around. It helps to know that as long as I can
hit a spot and if they put it in play, there’s my team behind
me to make the outs.”
The game remained scoreless until the fourth inning, when Bruin
sophomore first baseman Tairia Mims led off with a bloop double
down the right field line. Junior catcher Stacey Nuveman was then
intentionally walked for the fourth straight time, dating back to
Thursday’s game.
Sua, who drove in the only two runs of Thursday’s game
after Nuveman was intentionally walked to load the bases, once
again made the opposition pay when she hit a curveball by Cardinal
pitcher Dana Sorensen (26-5) to the opposite field.
“At that moment I think it’s almost a given that
people are going to walk Stacey,” Sua said. “So I was
just looking for a base hit.”
Three batters later, Bruin sophomore third baseman Toria Auelua
pulled an inside drop ball from Sorensen to cap the night’s
scoring with a two-run homer to left.
“I left two pitches out over the plate and they took
advantage of it,” Sorensen said.
Stanford Head Coach John Rittman pulled Sorensen after
Auelua’s home run, conceding the victory to UCLA and resting
her ace for Saturday’s elimination game.
“One day you come in here and you’re on top of the
world, and the next day you come in here and your world is falling
apart,” Rittman said.
“¢bull;Â “¢bull;Â “¢bull;
In other WCWS action, two teams with 23-game winning streaks
faced off against each other. Arizona needed eight innings to
defeat Oklahoma 5-4. The Wildcats were down 4-0 after five innings,
but a three-run homer in the sixth by senior third baseman Toni
Mascarenas brought them back into the game.
An error by the usually reliable Sooner shortstop Kelly Braitsch
allowed the winning run to score from second in the eighth inning.
Arizona junior ace Jennie Finch improved to 31-0 despite allowing
two home runs in a game for the first time since March 19,
2000.