Thursday, May 16, 1996
Bruins’ Adams, Howard, Burns, Poulson among those given Pac-10
awardsBy Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Contributor
Heading into this weekend’s NCAA regionals, the UCLA softball
team should compete with plenty of confidence, as 10 Bruins were
honored by the Pacific 10 for their performances this season.
Leading the pack was freshman third baseman Julie Adams, who
received Newcomer of the Year. She started her career off right,
hitting .389 to go along with eight home runs, good for second on
the team. In addition, she knocked in 33 runs, and was among the
top-10 in the conference with 38 runs scored. As a result, she was
also the only freshman named first-team All-Pac-10.
Three other Bruins were given first-team honors, equaling
Washington for a league-high four each. Senior second baseman Kelly
Howard earned her second consecutive first-team honors with a
career high .414 batting average as well 45 runs scored. First
baseman Alleah Poulson and pitcher B’Ann Burns earned first-team
for the first time in their respective careers.
By naming Nicole Odom as the second-team shortstop, the
conference honored the entire Bruin infield, while senior
outfielder Ginny Mike-Mitchell also earned second-team honors.
Bruin honorable mentions included freshmen Christie Ambrosi and
Julie Marshall, as well as senior pitcher Kaci Clark and sophomore
designated player Kim Wuest.
The Pac-10 also gave a Bruin the Player of the Week award. By
virtue of going 3-for-4 and helping lead UCLA to an 8-5 victory
over top-ranked Washington, Mike-Mitchell earned the award for the
first time.
But UCLA didn’t receive all the honors. Jenny Dalton of Arizona
was named Pac-10 Athlete of the Year after capturing the conference
triple crown and leading the nation with 21 home runs and 93
RBIs.
The Coach of the Year was Teresa Wilson of Washington, who led
the Huskies to their first Pac-10 championship in only their fourth
season of competition.
* * *
Although not playing the last two weekends because of a sore
shoulder, Odom is expected to play in the regionals which start
Friday in Fullerton.
"It feels as good as it did right before I hurt it," Odom said.
"I am really looking forward to practice and the weekend."
A final decision won’t be reached until tonight whether or not
she can take the field. If the doctor doesn’t allow her to return,
Christie Ambrosi will continue to fill in at shortstop. In the five
games she has replaced Odom, Ambrosi filled in admirably,
committing just one error.
* * *
Although earning only the No. 2 seed in the upcoming four-team
regional, the Bruins should be the favorites to earn the trip to
the College World Series starting May 23 in Columbus, Ga.
UCLA has won a record 85 games in the NCAA tournament, with
Fresno State’s 49 victories a distant second. Once reaching the
NCAA tournament, which they have done 14 of the past 15 seasons,
the Bruins have never failed to earn a World Series berth. All
told, they are 29-2 in the regional playoffs.
The other teams in the regional will be top-seed Cal State
Northridge (42-14), host Cal State Fullerton (38-25) and Southwest
Missouri State (34-20).
Daily Bruin file photo
Julie Adams received the Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year Award after
hitting .389.