The clutch hits that helped Lisa Dodd and Caitlin Benyi propel
the UCLA softball team to its second consecutive national
championship last spring haven’t fallen so far this year for
either hitter.
Dodd, one of the team’s top hitters in the playoffs last
year, is batting a paltry .161. And Benyi, who enjoyed one of the
best seasons in Bruin history last year, has dropped off in every
significant offensive category.
Their slumps are just two of the reasons why 12th-ranked UCLA
has lost four of its five Pac-10 games heading into a crucial
weekend series at Easton Stadium against No. 21 Arizona State on
Friday and longtime rival No. 2 Arizona on Saturday and Sunday.
“I’ve had to ask myself, “˜What am I going to
do to make this go away?'” Dodd, a sophomore, said.
“I think I’m starting to come back to the player I used
to be.”
Said Benyi, “I haven’t been seeing the ball
well.”
To gauge the significance of Benyi’s and Dodd’s
slump, look at UCLA’s last five games.
The Bruins have scored only six runs including just one run in
all four of their losses. Dodd, a first baseman, has just one hit
during that span, while Benyi, a second baseman, has tallied just
two.
UCLA (20-10), as a team, has suffered as well. The Bruins have
averaged 3.9 runs per game this season, compared to 5.1 through the
first 30 games a year ago. They have also lost one more game than
they did all last season.
“We’ve been hitting shots at people all year,”
Dodd said. “Things haven’t gone as well as we’ve
liked. We’ve got to keep pushing. We’ll come
through.”
But when remains to be seen.
While Benyi has had a good season, it pales in comparison to
what she accomplished a year ago, when she belted 24 home runs with
a .379 batting average. This season, Benyi has hit only four home
runs with over half of the season already having been played, and
her average has dropped to .312.
“After a year like last year, I’m not getting as
many pitches this year,” Benyi said.
Benyi may no longer be catching opponents by surprise as she did
a year ago, and she does draw a lot of walks, getting 16 in 77
at-bats this year. The walk frequency, however, isn’t
significantly higher than a year ago, when she drew 32 walks in 177
at-bats.
Still, Benyi says she has not put extra pressure on herself.
“I’m more effective when I’m loose,” she
said. “There’s no payoff in adding pressure.”
“Benyi has been making strides in her decision-making at
the plate,” UCLA coach Sue Enquist added. “As she
continues to see the ball better, the hits will come.”
And UCLA will need the hits to come this weekend, as Arizona
(31-4, 5-2) features one of the nation’s top pitchers in
Alicia Hollowell. The power pitcher has racked up 305 strikeouts in
169-1/3 innings, compiling an 0.70 ERA.
“Hollowell is very effective,” Enquist said.
“She throws inside to power hitters and she can mix her
pitches well.”
A year ago, the Bruins had good success against Hollowell,
scoring nine runs in two games against her.
“When our players are relaxed and can pick up the
trajectory, they can reap the benefits of tracking her
pitches,” Enquist said.
Despite the struggles, Enquist is confident the lineup will
start hitting.
“(Dodd) is swinging a really good stick lately,” she
said. “It’s only a matter of time until that translates
into more hits. It takes some intestinal fortitude to get through
this. She has to tap into it and really remain loyal to her talent.
Talent never leaves a ballplayer.”
Though scoring runs will be necessary to get back on track,
Enquist actually thinks her team’s defense, not her offense,
is the key to this weekend’s games.
“I know our hitting has been less than admirable,”
she said. “But I have a lot of confidence in our pitching.
It’ll come down to whoever gets the breaks in the
game.”
NOTES: All three games this weekend will be
televised on either ESPNU or ESPN, with former UCLA stars Stacey
Nuveman, Natasha Watley and Lisa Fernandez appearing in the booth
… This weekend’s games will be the first at Easton Stadium
with the finished seating renovations … Sunday’s game is
also Strike Out Cancer Day. There will be a prize drawing for all
fans in attendance, and in return, UCLA will encourage fans to make
donations to the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation to aid in
cancer research.