JONATHAN YOUNG/Daily Bruin UCLA first baseman Tairia
Mims, who hails from Tucson, Arizona, chose to come to
Westwood and is looking for redemption in the NCAA Women’s College
World Series this year.
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
[email protected]
Ask Tairia Mims if she could play all nine positions on the
softball field, and you’ll get a pause before she gives the
conservative answer.
But the idea is intriguing.
Mims is one of the most versatile players on the top-ranked UCLA
softball team, and though she has spent most of her first three
years at first base, Mims has also played third, right field and
catcher.
But could she pull a Bert Campaneris? On Sept. 8, 1965,
Campaneris became the first major leaguer to play all nine
positions in the same game while playing for the Oakland
A’s.
“I’m pretty sure if we had to, we could put her at
second or short,” teammate and roommate Toria Auelua said.
“I know she’d love to pitch too. Tairia would love to
get her chance on the mound.”
Mims, though confident about her abilities, is not optimistic
her pitching career will ever get on track.
“I can pitch,” Mims said. “I don’t think
they’d ever let me do that.”
UCLA head coach Sue Enquist is quick to confirm that
statement.
“Maybe she can play pitcher in some other school,”
Enquist said. “I’m all over Tairia Mims, she’s
it. No doubt about it.
“If we needed her anywhere else, I’m confident she
could do it.”
Versatility is very important in softball because one never
knows when a player will get hurt. The ability to shuffle players
like Mims around gives Enquist a great deal of flexibility when it
comes to fielding the best possible team.
It’s certainly something that Arizona head coach Mike
Candrea wishes he had. Mims, a Tucson native, is one of several
local players who got away.
Candrea knew Mims would be a good player at the Division I
level, but he didn’t properly gauge her versatility. Mims
attended Candrea’s camps in Arizona, and during that time it
was obvious to him that Mims loved catching. Since that position
was filled at Arizona, Candrea did not recruit her as heavily as he
might have wanted to.
And then, on top of all that, Candrea felt that Mims would
prefer to leave the state of Arizona.
“Tairia was the type of kid who grew up in Tucson and
wanted to get out of Tucson,” Candrea said. “As far as
I’m concerned, you let a kid do what they need to do to be
happy, and softball is just a small part of life.”
In comes UCLA, a late addition to the Mims sweepstakes. As a
freshman and sophomore in high school, the idea was to attend
Arizona. But as the recruiting process started, her father wanted
to make sure Mims kept her options open.
And even though UCLA wasn’t in the bidding for Mims’
service at an early stage, that didn’t prove to be a big
problem.
“I don’t know if I really ever thought that
I’d go to UCLA,” Mims said. “But it was kind of
last minute.”
When she reached Westwood, a problem almost immediately arose.
The Bruins needed her to play first base, a position she had never
played. Catcher was never really an option with 2000 Olympian
Stacey Nuveman around, and third base was also occupied.
There was definitely a learning curve. The reaction time between
first and third is the same, but the footwork and angles are much
more different. Making full use of her flexibility, hand-eye
coordination and work ethic, Mims managed to become a stand out at
first base.
“I think that’s such an incredible reflection of
her, to step out of her comfort zone and say “˜OK, I’m
going for it,'” Enquist said. “So when you watch
her perform there, that’s a testament to Tairia
Mims.”
Last May was tough for Mims, as UCLA lost 1-0 to Arizona in the
Women’s College World Series title game.
While there were thoughts of what could’ve been had she
chosen Arizona, Mims never wavered on her decision to attend UCLA.
And any doubts could be easily erased with a title in 2002.
“That does cross your mind, but that goes the same for a
bunch of the girls on our team that were recruited by
Arizona,” Mims said. “But I’ve never wished that
I would’ve gone to U-of-A.”
And UCLA is all the more versatile for it.
With reports by Scott Schultz, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.