A Jerin Harper sacrifice fly that scored Will Brindza broke a
9-9 tie in the top of the ninth to give Pacific a 10-9 win in the
rubber game of the series Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Bruin
pitcher Adam Simon (1-2) got the loss for UCLA (7-6) as he was
unable to hold onto a 9-8 lead going into the ninth as he gave up
two hits, a walk, and a hit batter to tie the game before
Harper’s game winner won the series for Pacific (8-6). Josh
Schmidt (3-0) picked up the win for the Tigers. The Bruins had been
down by as much as 8-4 but they took the lead by scoring three runs
in the bottom of the sixth and two runs in the eighth, thanks to a
Sean Smith two-run single. UCLA coach John Savage had a meeting
with the team after the game to tell the players not to get down
due to a tough early-season loss. “It was a disappointing
loss to be sure,” Savage said. “But I stressed that we
are in this together and the season is a marathon, not a sprint. We
can’t get caught up in early-season records and games.”
The first two games of the series were split with the Bruins
prevailing on Friday 9-0 thanks to a complete game shutout by
sophomore Hector Ambriz. On Saturday, Pacific won 7-5 with Matt
Berezay hitting a two-run home run in the sixth inning to put the
Tigers up for good.
SWIMMING: To break a school record is considered special, but
for a pair of Bruins, swimming a personal best was the major
accomplishment as the Bruins went on to finish fourth in the Pac-10
championships in Federal Way, Wash. Both sophomore Katie Arnold and
junior Kim Vandenberg smashed school records that they had set
themselves a year earlier. Arnold swam a 53.22 in the 100-meter
backstroke, capturing the Pac-10 title. Vandenberg placed second,
losing by one-tenth of a second to Stanford’s Dana Kirk, in
the 200-meter butterfly. Brittany Renfrow anchored the diving team,
placing eighth in the 3-meter competition while Paige Thompson,
Amanda Blong, and Janine Strack also placed in the top 12.
SOFTBALL: In what could have been its biggest win of its season
to date, the UCLA women’s softball team dropped a 3-0
decision to No. 3 Texas in eight innings. With the score deadlocked
at 0-0 after seven innings of play, the game entered extra innings
under international tiebreaker rules. Under this rule, used
primarily in early season tournaments, each team starts its half of
the inning with a runner on second base. Selden yielded only four
hits while striking out 13, her eighth consecutive double-digit
strikeout game in as many starts. Texas pitcher Catherine Osterman
was equally as dominant, only allowing three hits while striking
out 17 Bruin batters. The Bruins had their chances to defeat
Osterman and the Longhorns though, as they stranded 10 base runners
throughout the game. The Bruins loaded the bases twice in the game,
but failed to score a runner on either occasion. The Longhorns used
this rule to their advantage, scoring three unearned runs in the
top of the eighth inning, handing freshman pitcher Anjelica Selden
(7-1) her first loss of the season. After the loss, UCLA coach Sue
Enquist refused to comment on her team’s performance against
Texas and in the Palm Springs Classic as a whole.
Compiled by Robert Costa, Erin Wagner, and Vinh Trang, Bruin
Sports reporters.