SOFTBALL vs. CalState Northridge 1:30pm
Northridge, CA
No. 1 Softball takes on CSU Northridge
No longer undefeated, but still top-ranked, the UCLA softball
team travels to Cal State Northridge for a doubleheader today at
1:30 p.m.
The Bruins (37-1) suffered their first loss of the season on
Friday at Stanford, a 1-0 loss in the Pac-10 opener. UCLA bounced
back with a pair of wins at Cal and look to fine-tune their skills
versus the Matadors (19-17) before a much anticipated pair of games
against No. 3 Arizona (36-2) this weekend.
The Bruins can’t be caught looking ahead to this weekend
though, as CSUN is a good team. The Matadors are led by senior
pitcher/outfielder Sarah Farnworth, who has a 13-10 record with a
2.49 ERA and has pitched almost half of CSUN’s 245 innings.
Farnworth is also tied for second on the team with 13 RBIs and
second with 12 runs scored.
The doubleheader will mark the third and fourth games of the
season between these two teams, as UCLA swept their previous
encounters at the Spartan Early Bird Tournament. On Feb. 3, the
Bruin offense tagged Farnworth for 12 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings
of work en route to a 13-0, five-inning victory.
Farnworth allowed only a single extra-base hit, a double by UCLA
junior pitcher/outfielder Amanda Freed. But the Bruins combined for
13 hits and four walks against her, including an eight-run
fifth-inning explosion. On Feb. 4, UCLA beat the Matadors again, as
Freed pitched a three-hit shutout in a 7-0 win.
If the first two games are any indication, the Bruins’
dominant pitching should shut down CSUN. So far in the 2001 season,
UCLA pitchers have combined for a 0.65 ERA in 249 innings, while
opponents sport a 6.28 ERA.
Brief compiled by Vytas Mazeika, Daily Bruin Contributor.