By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter
OKLAHOMA CITY “”mdash; There are two ways to look at how the 2001
Women’s College World Series turned out.
You can look at this year’s edition as the same tired old
story from years before. UCLA versus Arizona in the final, as has
happened in 1991, ’92, ’93, ’95 and
’97.
In the big picture, it didn’t even matter who won the 2001
edition, as it was Arizona’s sixth NCAA title and would have
been UCLA’s ninth.
But you can also look at the WCWS for the reasons that make fans
come to its games in impressive numbers ““ the people who play
there, the plays that make them noteworthy, and also how teams win,
not just which teams win.
The hometown Oklahoma Sooners, for example, provided two of the
weekend’s most exciting games, toughing it out with
top-seeded Arizona and third-seeded Louisiana State and taking both
those teams to extra innings.
Those games turned a gutsy Sooner shortstop into a scapegoat for
some, a hero for others. Sophomore Kelli Braitsch ceded her
team’s lead to its opponents in both games by making plays
she’d made all year, though this time the ball slipped. Fans
may have blamed her for making a mistake, but they had to
acknowledge the competitive drive that allowed her to give the
spectacular plays a shot in the first place.
There was LSU, making its first appearance in the WCWS and
bringing, arguably, the most spirited fans with them. The Tigers
gave the 6,817 partisans in attendance Saturday night a memorable
13-inning, 2-1 finish that resulted in a Sooner loss but still
increased Oklahoma’s credibility to anyone who would call
their 2000 title a fluke.
There was the Stanford Cardinal, in Oklahoma City for the first
time, which made it all the way to Sunday’s Final Four. They
truly lived and died by the 1-0 game, so common in softball, and
beat Cal by that margin on Saturday. But Sunday, a solo home run by
Arizona senior Toni Mascarenas came in the first inning and stood
the length of the game.
There was Cal, which opened the tournament against Arizona and
began a series of one-run games for those Wildcats, making them
seem so beatable on the right day.
And then there were the two teams that left as fast as they
could, fourth-seeded Michigan and seventh-seeded Iowa. The Hawkeyes
from Iowa City raised eyebrows by dancing in spasmic fashion in
front of their dugout whenever the opposing team held a conference
in the circle, and by holding the Bruins scoreless into the sixth
inning on Thursday.
Michigan, however, didn’t have a memorable time on the
field, as flawed pitching and a flurry of fielding mistakes sent
the Wolverines back to Ann Arbor 0 for 2 in the WCWS. But at least
they can say they were there.
There were no surprises at the top. The Wildcats beat the
Bruins, as they’ve done three times out of four this year,
and four times out of five all-time in championship games. But all
those who watched, whether in person or on national television, met
a few more personalities and saw a few more stories.
We learned from Braitsch how to accept a mistake, even if people
around the world saw her toss two extra inning games into the
dugout. We learned from Arizona senior catcher Lindsey Collins that
you can come into a game hitting .167 for the WCWS but come out of
it hitting the decisive home run. And, on the lighter side, we were
treated to the spectacle that arises whenever the Iowans decide
that “it’s Hawkeye rally time.”
“It’s just a tradition at Iowa to go out there to
play and have fun. We’re at the World Series. You’ve
got to have fun,” Hawkeye junior pitcher Kristi Hanks
said.
“It’s always time to dance,” freshman
Christina Schmaltz added.
Only one team dances with the trophy every year. But next year,
the names will be different and the destination of the championship
award may change.
“It’s getting tougher every year to go out and
dominate,” Arizona Head Coach Mike Candrea said.
UCLA Head Coach Sue Enquist agreed that more than two teams may
have a real shot at winning the title in the near future.
“There are no breather games. Back in the day, you could
just have one eye open on some of the teams early in the
tournament. Some teams did not belong here, and now there’s
so much depth,” she said.
Oklahoma proved that much last year with their first title.
Fresno State broke through in 1998 after finishing second to UCLA
in 1988-90.
“You’ve seen a little bit of parity in softball. I
think there is still a separation out there with Arizona and UCLA.
You’ve got a lot of good programs out there and the LSU
Tigers are one of them,” LSU Head Coach Yvette Girouard said.
“We will be back.”
Maybe so. But what will remain a mystery until next May are the
teams who will be here, along with the people and the plays that
will affect what happens between the beginning of the WCWS and the
end of it.
And that is why we watch it.