EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Natasha
Watley looks to steal third base in a game last
season.
Team USA gets help from UCLA
After strong showings by Team USA at the Canada Cup (June
30-July 8), the six UCLA Bruins participating with the two Team USA
squads are just about ready to complete their summer
commitment.
Junior shortstop Natasha Watley, a member of USA Red, was named
to the All-Tournament Team and honored with the Most Inspirational
Player award. She batted .310 while scoring 10 runs and stealing
seven bases in 13 games.
Contributions to USA Red were also made by senior catcher and
2000 Olympian Stacey Nuveman, senior pitcher/outfielder Amanda
Freed, junior infielder Tairia Mims and sophomore pitcher Keira
Goerl.
Nuveman hit .545 with eight walks, but drove in only four runs.
Freed was second in runs batted in among the Bruins with 10 and
tied for the lead with three home runs. She also stole two bases.
In the circle, Freed had a 1-2 record with 20 strikeouts in 20
innings. Freed allowed only six hits, but a porous defense was
responsible for multiple unearned runs.
Mims led the UCLA players with 12 RBI and also had three home
runs while batting .300. Goerl was a perfect 4-0 while amassing 22
strikeouts in 21 innings of work.
USA Red finished in third place with a 9-4 record, while USA
Blue was eliminated a day earlier by their counterparts by a score
of 3-2.
Pitcher/outfielder Courtney Dale, who last season completed her
eligibility, and junior infielder/outfielder Toria Auelua helped
USA Blue get off to a strong 7-0 start before losing three of the
next four.
Dale finished the tournament with a 2-1 record in the circle and
12 strikeouts in 12 innings of work. Auelua struggled with
inconsistent playing time, finishing with a .176 average, one home
run and two RBI.
Next up for both squads is the Pan American Games qualifier July
27-August 4 in Maracay, Venezuela.
Record ratings for World Series
The 2001 Women’s College World Series title game between
UCLA and Arizona was the most-viewed softball game in ESPN’s
history. The game was viewed by 965,000 households (an estimated
2.47 million viewers according to a 2.56 people per household
statistic).
For the second consecutive year, the championship game involving
UCLA (runners-ups to Oklahoma in 2000) outrated every Major League
Baseball game televised on ESPN and ESPN2.
The WCWS was the fourth most viewed NCAA championship with 5.2
million households.
Briefs compiled by Vytas Mazeika, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.