Last year, the UCLA softball team struggled all regular season
long and had to settle for a fifth-place tie in the Pac-10 heading
into the NCAA Regionals.
This year, with two more games remaining in the regular season,
the Bruins are in a much better position.
They have locked up the Pac-10 title.
By virtue of its 2-0 victory over California in Berkeley on
Thursday, UCLA (43-5, 15-3 Pac-10) officially made its Pac-10 lead
insurmountable.
All of the scoring for the Bruins took place in the fourth
inning on an RBI single from senior catcher Emily Zaplatosch and a
sacrifice fly from junior shortstop Jodie Legaspi.
The fourth-inning runs were all the Bruins needed as sophomore
Anjelica Selden turned in another brilliant pitching performance to
run her season record to 28-4.
Selden threw a complete game shutout against Cal, allowing only
three hits while striking out nine Bears.
The Bruins have two more games remaining in the regular season
against Stanford today and Saturday.
If the Bruins can sweep or even win one of the two games against
Stanford, they will likely go in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1
team in the nation.
The 64-team tournament draw comes out officially on Sunday and
will be televised at 12:30 p.m. on ESPNews. It is all but certain
that the Bruins will host their regional games, which begin next
week.
DURAN HONORED: Senior third baseman Andrea
Duran added yet another national award to her resume on
Thursday.
Duran, who has been named National Player of the Week twice this
season, was named as a CoSIDA District 8 First-Team Academic
All-American.
Duran, a sociology student with a 3.50 GPA, earned the award for
the third straight season.
On the field, Duran leads the team in nearly every offensive
category. She has a .355 average, 12 home runs, 36 RBIs, 48 runs
scored and 17 stolen bases.