Though the season is still young, the UCLA softball team will
receive its first gut check this weekend.
The No. 2 Bruins will get their first big test facing No. 7
Georgia at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament.
At the tournament at Mayfair Park in nearby Lakewood, the two
top-10 teams will face each other three times between Friday and
Saturday.
“We’re going to be tested early on this year,”
UCLA coach Sue Enquist said. “I think my kids know that.
We’re going to gear up a little bit more.”
The Bruins have easily won their first three games of the
season, but have not faced a team near the caliber of Georgia.
“We can’t take anything for granted,”
shortstop Jodie Legaspi said. “We’re going to face two
good ball clubs.”
The Georgia games also mark a tough test for UCLA’s two
primary pitchers ““ sophomore Lisa Dodd and freshman Anjelica
Selden.
Neither has seen much action against highly ranked teams in
their relatively young collegiate careers. Even though Dodd pitched
for the Bruins last year, former UCLA standout Keira Goerl started
almost all of the games against the nation’s best teams a
year ago.
This weekend will be an opportunity for the two pitchers to
become accustomed to facing quality competition, which they can
expect to combat on a regular basis once the Pac-10 season starts
in April (seven of the eight Pac-10 teams are ranked, including
five in the top 10).
“I have the utmost confidence in both of them,”
Enquist said.
Also on UCLA’s tournament schedule is a showdown with Cal
State Fullerton, a former perennial softball power ranked in the
top 10 for most of 2003. However, the Titans (0-0), who are
predicted to finish fifth in the Big West Conference, are coming
off of a rebuilding year in which they won only one-third of their
games.
For the last three years, the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament
has been held at UCLA’s Easton Stadium, but will be played
this year at Mayfair Park in Lakewood due to renovations and
construction at Easton.
The tournament is named in honor of former UCLA softball player
Stacy Winsberg, who also was the strength and conditioning coach
for the U.S. national team. Winsberg passed away on Dec. 12, 2002,
from a cerebral blood clot and after having battled lung
cancer.