After a disappointing 2-0 loss on Friday to Oregon State, the
top-ranked UCLA softball team responded with a vengeance. The
Bruins (36-4, 8-2 Pac-10) stormed back to take the final two games
of the weekend against Oregon (19-16, 1-6) and increase their lead
in the Pac-10 to two and a half games over California. The
Bruins’ weekend, however, didn’t get off to a great
start against Oregon State on Friday. Down two runs in the bottom
of the seventh inning, UCLA had a golden opportunity to get back in
the game, but sophomore pinch hitter Jennifer Schroeder struck out,
and the Bruins fell to the Beavers. UCLA’s inability to score
spoiled a solid pitching performance by sophomore pitcher Anjelica
Selden, who allowed just four hits in seven innings and struck out
10 Beavers. However, the Bruin bats quickly rebounded on Saturday.
Behind a strong crowd of 895, which included a rare appearance by
the UCLA band, the Bruins pounded out six runs and six hits in the
first inning to set the tone for a dominating 9-3 victory. Junior
pitcher Lisa Dodd ran her record to 15-1 on the season, allowing
three runs while tying her season high with 10 strikeouts. Dodd has
already set a career high for strikeouts in a season with 88 and
has already thrown more innings this year (109.1) than she did all
of last year (78.1). Junior shortstop Jodie Legaspi went 3-4 with
three RBIs and hit her team-leading 11th home run in the victory.
Legaspi and the Bruins came out strong against the Ducks on Sunday
too. Legaspi hit her 12th homer to start off a second inning in
which UCLA scored all five of its runs. The at-bat of the day, and
possibly the season, came from sophomore outfielder Krista Colburn,
who fouled off pitch after pitch from Oregon pitcher Alicia Cook
before lacing a two-run single on the 13th pitch of the at-bat to
give the Bruins a 4-1 lead. Selden took care of the rest, throwing
a complete-game three-hitter and striking out seven. In addition to
sealing the victory for the Bruins, Selden’s performance on
Sunday brought a few individual milestones with it. Selden became
the 12th pitcher in Bruin history to record 50 wins for her UCLA
career and surpassed DeeDee Weiman for fifth all-time on the UCLA
strikeout list, with 747 career strikeouts. Selden will likely pass
Lisa Fernandez for third on the all-time list by the end of the
year.
ENQUIST UPSET: The 9-3 and 5-2 victories
against Oregon may not have been enough to satisfy UCLA coach Sue
Enquist this weekend. An apparently upset Enquist would not speak
to the media and would not let her players comment at the end of
Sunday’s 5-2 victory. Perhaps one of the reasons Enquist was
upset with the team was the lack of offensive production the Bruins
displayed after the second inning on Sunday. After allowing the
first seven batters she faced in the first two games to reach base,
Oregon’s Cook retired 14 of the last 15 hitters she faced in
Sunday’s game.