Arizona St. d. UCLA 3-2 UCLA d. Arizona 6-5
By Jon Corwin
Daily Bruin Contributor
A weekend that began on a sour note ended in triumph yesterday
for the UCLA softball team.
After dropping their first two games to Arizona State and
Arizona (35-5, 4-1), the top-ranked Bruins (34-6, 2-3) prevailed
over the National-champion Wildcats on Sunday with an impressive
6-5 victory in front of over 3,100 fans in Tucson. The win snapped
Arizona’s 70-homegame winning streak, and ended Wildcat
pitcher Jennie Finch’s 60-game undefeated streak.
In last year’s NCAA championship game, Finch threw a
four-hit shutout against UCLA. The Bruins got off to a hot start in
the weekend finale, batting around in the top of the first inning
behind a grand slam from left fielder Stephanie Ramos, her second
roundtripper of the season.
UCLA’s leading home run hitter Stacey Nuveman was the
offensive star for the Bruins, launching two mammoth home runs that
hit Arizona’s Hillenbrand stadium scoreboard. Nuveman’s
fifth inning blast was her 10th of the season, and 80th of her
career, putting her just five homers shy of the NCAA career record
of 85. The hard-hitting UCLA senior’s 81st career blast in
the seventh frame ended up being the winning run for the
Bruins.
UCLA hurler Keira Goerl (17-4) notched the win, striking out two
Wildcats in the final inning to preserve the victory over the
second-ranked team in the country.
In Friday’s surprising 3-2 loss to the Sun Devils (31-9,
1-2), UCLA junior and Tucson native Tairia Mims provided half the
Bruins offense with a third inning home run off ASU pitcher Erica
Beach (19-6), who has proven to be one of the elite pitchers in the
country. Beach limited the visiting Bruins to just four hits, as
Goerl picked up her fourth loss of the year.
Saturday’s opener with Arizona, the only televised
regular-season contest of the year, also lacked a potent UCLA
offense, as the Bruins couldn’t capitalize on two hits apiece
from shortstop Natasha Watley and Tairia Mims en route to a 3-2
defeat. Senior Amanda Freed (15-2) was stuck with the loss, despite
striking out eight Wildcats.
The Bruins will host both Arizona and Arizona State next month
to conclude the season.
Several key Pac-10 matchups remain for UCLA, including this
coming weekend’s contests, as the Bruins host No. 3 Stanford
at Easton Stadium on Friday at 2 p.m., before welcoming
sixth-ranked Cal for a two game weekend series on Saturday and
Sunday.