Coming off a win against No. 5 Washington last weekend, the UCLA
softball team will face another test this weekend, starting with
No. 9 Nebraska and No. 13 DePaul Friday.
The top-ranked Bruins will play five games in the UNLV Classic,
including two against top-10 opponents.
In its first tournament of the season, UCLA went 4-0 but made a
number of mistakes that need correcting.
“I think it will be a good tournament for us, but
I’m prepared for the entire spectrum,” coach Sue
Enquist said.
“I’m prepared to see good softball, but at the same
time, we’re still trying to right ourselves in all facets of
the game,” she added.
After their doubleheader, the Bruins will play Portland State
and Wisconsin on Saturday before concluding the tournament against
No. 8 Michigan, no doubt a difficult draw.
“Sometimes it’s just the layout of the
tournament,” Enquist said. “You can’t really plan
for it.”
The tournament will be another test for a young team with four
freshman starters.
“I think it’s a good experience because we’re
kind of inexperienced,” third baseman Andrea Duran said.
Enquist said she will not make any changes to the lineup this
week because she wants the players to get more accustomed to their
current positions.
She also said the team will be better prepared this week after
making four errors in last week’s tournament and coming from
behind to defeat San Diego State.
UCLA will need to improve this weekend, given the quality of its
competition.
“They learned a good lesson that you’ve got to show
up and play the game or you’re going to get tripped
up,” Enquist said.