The UCLA women’s softball team just made the Arizona
desert a little less dusty.
The No. 3 Bruins swept the weekend set against the Arizona
schools to improve to 33-3 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-10.
The No. 2 Wildcats of Arizona and the No. 9 Sun Devils of
Arizona State were playing well coming into the weekend and had
momentum going into the series with UCLA.
But the Bruins were able to ride their own momentum on the road,
defeating the Sun Devils 7-4 on Friday, then the Wildcats 2-1 on
Saturday and 8-3 on Sunday.
“I’m very pleased with our consistency on the
road,” UCLA coach Sue Enquist said. “To come away with
a sweep is impressive. We just did a great job with being strong in
all parts of the game, (especially) three days in a row.”
The Bruin power bats were in full force in Friday night’s
victory over the Sun Devils. Senior third baseman Andrea Duran led
the game off with a solo home run, and hit another home run in the
fourth inning.
Sophomore right fielder Krista Colburn and senior catcher Emily
Zaplatosch also homered for the Bruins in the game.
With that, the Bruins took a trip to Tuscon, Ariz., to meet with
the Wildcats. Despite the Wildcats’ high national ranking,
the Bruins weren’t fazed.
“We don’t really look at (the rankings),” said
Duran. “We just come in every game to play our own game.
They’re always at the top with us.”
Saturday, Duran again plied her lead-off trade, doubling down
the third base line. She would score later in the inning on a
single by junior shortstop Jodie Legaspi, giving the Bruins a 1-0
lead.
Legaspi herself doubled to lead off the fourth, advanced on a
sacrifice bunt by junior pitcher Lisa Dodd, and then scored on a
single by junior right fielder Whitney Holum, increasing the lead
to 2-0.
The Wildcats responded by breaking up Dodd’s no-hitter in
the bottom of the inning.
In the sixth, Dodd (14-1) gave up a home run and a double,
prompting Enquist to bring in Friday’s winner, sophomore
Anjelica Selden. Selden (19-2) struck out Taryne Mowatt, then
remained in the game to earn the first and only Bruin save on the
season.
“When (Dodd) and (Selden) can tag team, it works out
really well. They really just work well together,” Enquist
said.
After showing off their pitching prowess to scrounge runs on
Saturday, the Bruins punished the Wildcats’ pitching staff on
Sunday.
Duran once again led the game off with a home run. Two batters
later, fellow senior second baseman Caitlyn Benyi knocked the ball
over the right-center fence, scoring Colburn to make the game 3-0.
That set the tone for the Bruins’ offense, which scored eight
runs off sophomore pitcher Taryne Mowatt, who sported a 0.65 ERA
prior to getting shelled by UCLA.
Enquist had only praise to offer her team for its weekend
performance and made sure the players were looking forward.
“This is what I told (the team) about this week:
“˜Let our good play inspire us to work harder every day.
Don’t be emotionally sloppy or content ““ we’re
still improving and we can still get better.'”