This weekend was a wet one for the entire Pacific Coast. But the
UCLA softball team took care of business while it could. Although
the top-ranked Bruins’ Saturday game against Washington was
rained out, UCLA was able to salvage the first half of its road
trip by defeating the Huskies 6-0 on Friday evening.
“Whenever you come to Washington, you know you have to deal
with the weather,” UCLA coach Sue Enquist said. “We
came out with great energy. It’s unfortunate that the rain
caught up with us,” Enquist said. The external factors of the
weekend, including a 4 a.m. arrival on Friday, didn’t faze
the Bruins in the slightest for Friday night’s game against
the Huskies. The Bruins got started in the second inning, when
junior shortstop Jodie Legaspi knocked the ball over the
center-field fence with one out. In the third, junior center
fielder Tara Henry singled, stole second, and scored on sophomore
right fielder Krista Colburn’s one-out double, making the
score 2-0. Sophomore pitcher Anjelica Selden kept the Huskies
silent, getting out of jams in the second and fifth innings. She
struck out six and notched her 20th win on the season, after the
Bruins added some insurance in the fifth and sixth to bring the
score to 6-0. “Every facet of our game was strong (Friday).
We stole bases, we went yard, went (opposite field) … and then
(we came) out with that sense of energy and purpose
(Saturday),” Enquist said. Saturday’s game, after the
hour-long delay in the start time, featured junior Lisa Dodd in the
circle against Washington’s Danielle Lawrie. But heavy rains,
high winds (33 miles per hour) and hail forced the teams indoors
and the umpires to end the game ““ for the time being at
least. The game could possibly be finished on April 26, when the
Huskies visit Easton Stadium. However, the Pac-10 will make the
final decision sometime this week. The rain-out ended a five-game,
two-weekend road trip for the Bruins. They now return to UCLA for
two weeks, and are scheduled to play Oregon State this Friday. As
the first half of the season has drawn to a close, the Bruins are
in excellent shape. “We’ve set a good tone for the
first half, but it’s a marathon,” Enquist said.
“There’s no doubt, though, we’re playing good
softball.”
UPCOMING GAMES: UCLA begins a seven-game
homestand of Pac-10 opponents when it hosts Oregon State on
Saturday, followed by Oregon on Sunday.