Monday, April 1, 1996Wildcats snag revengeBy Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Staff
Ten months to the day after the Bruins claimed the national
championship over Arizona, the Wildcat softball team finally got a
chance for revenge.
They didn’t waste the opportunity.
After dashing Arizona’s championship dreams of a year ago with a
4-2 victory in the title game of the College World Series, the
Wildcats ruined UCLA’s spring break with a doubleheader sweep last
Friday in Tucson.
The 5-4 and 5-0 losses severely hurt the Bruins’ chances at
recovering the Pacific 10 title for the first time since 1993,
lowering their record to 27-5 overall and 8-4 in conference play,
matching their total league losses from a year ago (when they
finished 23-4, one-half game behind Arizona).
The first game was the battle everyone expected to see from the
top two teams in the nation, with the top-ranked Wildcats and
second-ranked UCLA slugging it out until the bitter end.
After Arizona (29-3, 2-0) opened the game with three runs in the
first inning, the Bruins battled back behind a 3-for-4 performance
by junior first baseman Alleah Poulson and capitalized on a solo
homerun by freshman catcher Julie Marshall that gave the Bruins a
4-3 lead in the late innings.
However, a two-out, two-run pinch hit single in the bottom of
the sixth by seldom-used Tiana Hejduk gave the Wildcats the 5-4
lead and ultimately the win, despite being outhit by the Bruins
10-5.
"The first game was excellent," UCLA co-head coach Sue Enquist
said. "We really battled and were physically and mentally into the
game. We gave it our best, but we just didn’t come out on top."
Although disappointed the club couldn’t pull out the victory,
nothing could have prepared Enquist or the remainder of the Bruin
coaching staff of what was to come in the second game.
"We just gave up," Enquist said. "It was the first time I have
ever seen a Bruin team just quit themselves."
After Arizona opened with two runs in the first, the outcome was
never in doubt.
"Some of the players put their own failure ahead of the team’s
success, it was just disgusting to watch," Enquist said. "We’ll
never accept what we saw in Game 2, we need to remind the players
what an honor it is to put on that uniform and represent the
university.
"Our levels of expectation will certainly be different now, we
need to get our focus in the right place. The situation is fixable,
and we’re doing everything possible to solve the problem."
Prior to the Arizona doubleheader, the Bruins were on a
tremendous roll. They had won 19 of their last 20, including six in
a row over spring break.
Junior pitcher B’Ann Burns did her part in continuing the
streak, winning four consecutive games in a span of two days. On
March 23, the Bruins opened spring break with a doubleheader sweep
over conference rival Oregon with a pair of 4-2 victories. Burns
won the first game as a starter, and came on in relief in the fifth
inning of Game 2 to win her second game of the day.
In the opener, Julie Adams went 2-for-2 at the plate with a
game-clinching RBI triple in the fifth, while junior catcher Sandra
Burkey knocked in the game-winner in the nightcap with a single in
the bottom of the sixth.
The following day, UCLA took a nonconference doubleheader from
San Diego State by scores of 3-1 and 5-2. Once again, Burns notched
both victories, giving up only one run and six hits in 11 innings
pitched.
At the plate, senior left fielder Ginny Mike-Mitchell was the
star, going a combined 5-for-8, including a leadoff single in the
bottom of the fifth in the second game to key a three-run rally
that would allow the Bruins to escape with a 5-2 victory.
Playing their third doubleheader in four days, the Bruins swept
past the Beavers of Oregon State, 8-0 and 10-1. Burns threw a
three-hit shutout in the opener, while senior Kaci Clark followed
with eight strikeouts while surrendering only one run in the
nightcap.
The entire UCLA lineup was on fire, outhitting the Beavers 28-9
on the day, with nine different Bruins crossing the plate.
Mike-Mitchell finished the day 4-for-8 with 4 RBIs, including a
three-run homerun in the second game. Senior second baseman Kelly
Howard also had a day to remember, going 3-for-4 in the second
game, including a leadoff double, tying her for the all-time Bruin
lead with 46.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Kelly Howard (in hat) had a leadoff double in UCLA’s second game
against the Wildcats Friday, but Arizona won 5-4, 5-0.
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