Softball faces UNLV in UCLA tournament
By Melissa Anderson
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
As the second-ranked UCLA softball team prepares to host the
Easton/Reebok Invitational this weekend, it seems that the only
opponent with a strong chance of stopping the undefeated Bruins is
the weather.
UCLA will face some of its toughest competition of the season in
No. 5 UNLV, No. 10 Michigan and Utah, but it will take more than a
national ranking to put a scare into the Bruins.
"Utah and UNLV are looking to be our toughest opponents," UCLA
assistant coach Kelly Inouye said. "Michigan has some new recruits
and they’ve improved a lot, too."
The Bruins (14-0 overall, 2-0 in Pac-10) open the tourney this
morning at 9 against Ohio State (2-4 overall) and will face
Michigan Saturday at 3 p.m. The Wolverines (7-2) are led
offensively by Kelly Kovach, who hit four home runs in the first
week of the season. Freshman pitcher Sara Griffin, who posted nine
strikeouts in her first collegiate start, will likely start against
UCLA.
The Lady Rebels come into the tournament with a 15-2 record and
hopes of avenging last year’s loss in the South Regional finals
after beating UCLA, 1-0, earlier in the tournament. The rematch is
set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
"I’m sure UNLV isn’t happy about how we took regionals last
year," Inouye said. "They pretty much sent us to nationals. But
they are always pretty tough it’s a good non-conference
rivalry."
Utah (5-7) and UCLA will close out tournament competition Sunday
at 3 p.m .The young Utes, who were not ranked in the first official
poll of the season, have no returning seniors and post a starting
lineup consisting of several freshmen. With early-season losses to
UNLV and Ohio State, Utah is looking forward to the tough
competition the tournament will provide.
"We feel like we’re getting better every week we play," Utah
head coach Jo Evans said. "Going into the UCLA tournament, we’re
anxious to play these teams. We always love to play UCLA. Our team
always gets fired up to play them because they’re always ranked
near the top and they always provide a challenge."
Rounding out the field is South Carolina, which will not face
the Bruins.
"All of these games are really big for us," Inouye said. "It’s
the one time we’ll face most of these teams so if (NCAA seeds) come
down to game-to-game rankings, it would be to our advantage to have
these wins."