EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Keira Goerl
allowed four hits in Thursday’s loss to Florida State in the NCAA
Championships.
By Vytas Mazeika
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]
OKLAHOMA CITY “”mdash; There was no defense for what UCLA did
Thursday.
There were no excuses, there was no hitting, but above all,
there was no defense.
The top-seeded Bruins fell 2-1 in nine innings to upstart
Florida State in the opening game of the Women’s College
World Series, making this the first time UCLA has been relegated to
the loser’s bracket since 1997.
It was only the second time since the NCAA started seeding teams
in WCWS play in 1989 that a top seed lost its opening game. The
other time? UCLA beat FSU 1-0 in 1991.
“This is something that we just have to deal with and come
back from,” Bruin left fielder Stephanie Ramos said.
“It’s not impossible for us to come back. We’ve
been down before.”
UCLA, with Ramos’ help, almost came back to win in the
bottom of the ninth.
But the game belonged to FSU’s Monique Marier ““ the
opposing left fielder.
It was Marier who gave the Seminoles their 2-1 lead. With two
outs and an 0-2 count, Marier turned on a flip-drop ball from Keira
Goerl and the ball just cleared left field.
“When I was running to first I thought it was going foul,
and I was like, “˜Oh nuts,'” Marier said.
EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Florida State’s Monique
Marier (center)
celebrates her game-winning home run.
UCLA (54-8) countered in the bottom of the ninth when Tairia
Mims reached base on an error with one out. Then Stacey Nuveman,
who had earlier allowed FSU (54-18) to tie the game on a throwing
error, walked for the third time.
After Claire Sua grounded out to shortstop, advancing the
runners, the battle between the leftfielders came to a climactic
end.
Ramos lined a pitch to shallow left, and Marier dove head first,
awkwardly scooping the ball and surely taking away what would have
been UCLA’s tying and winning runs.
“We definitely made our run for it,” Nuveman said.
“Three inches is the difference, and we’re going home
winners.”
“We came into the game not even thinking about us being
the eight seed and UCLA being the No. 1 seed,” FSU second
baseman Brandi Stuart said. “We’re just two teams with
names and mascots just trying to win a ballgame.”
The game should have never gone to extra innings, though.
UCLA jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, as Sua
singled up the middle and Natasha Watley, who went 4-for-5, scored.
It was an odd play, as Stuart kept Sua’s hit in the infield,
but failed to throw out the speedy Watley at home. Ramos, who left
eight runners on base, popped up to the shortstop to end the
threat.
Goerl (31-5) looked poised to shut down the Seminoles. She only
allowed four hits and one walk while striking out 12 despite a
36-minute delay due to lightning. But the defense let her down in
the top of the fourth, a common theme for a Bruin team that has
committed 11 errors in its last four games, including three on
Thursday.
Stuart found herself at second after a one-out single and a
sacrifice bunt.
When Stuart took off for third base on an attempted steal,
Nuveman’s throw came in a bit early. The ball rolled to left
field, and Stuart scored to tie the game at one.
Meanwhile, UCLA’s struggling offense could not capitalize
on multiple opportunities. Seminole ace Leslie Malerich (34-12)
allowed six hits and walked nine batters, but the Bruins stranded
14 runners compared to FSU’s five.
The Seminoles eventually broke through in the ninth, and UCLA
lost its opening WCWS game for only the second time in 18
appearances.
“It really shouldn’t have really come down to one
hit,” UCLA senior Amanda Freed said. “It’s kind
of been the luck that we’ve had in the last
weekend.”
Now it becomes a question of stamina.
UCLA will have to win a pair of games Saturday and two more
Sunday to reach Monday’s NCAA title game for a fourth
consecutive year.
The Bruins, though, do not think the extra games will be that
great of a factor, especially considering the team carries two aces
in Goerl and Freed.
“Fortunately in this tournament, being in the
loser’s bracket is not that big of a disadvantage,”
Enquist said. “Two extra games over four days, that’s
not that huge of a deficit.”
“We still have time,” Goerl said. “We’re
going to come through. There’s confidence
everywhere.”
But confidence alone can only do so much without hitting or
defense.