Andrea Duran didn’t seek out all the individual attention
she has been getting this year. The senior third baseman has always
been a prime example of coach Sue Enquist’s team concept,
sacrificing herself for the better of the group. But with the way
Duran has played this year, the recognition she wasn’t
getting in her previous three years has naturally come to her.
Duran, the Pac-10 Player of the Year this season, closed out her
career at Easton Stadium in style on Sunday, hitting a home run on
the very first pitch of the game and later scoring a run on a
triple. Duran, a four-year starter, has seen a huge boost in her
statistics this year. She has already long surpassed her previous
season highs in batting average (.363), home runs (13), runs (55)
and RBIs (40) out of the leadoff spot in the order. “In the
(Pac-10) there are a lot of terrific ballplayers that don’t
get the national recognition,” Enquist said. “I just
think with Dre’s play, she’s drawn attention to what
she is capable of doing.” Duran, the only two-time National
Player of the Week this season, has been a versatile player
throughout her Bruin career. Her quick reflexes, speed, power and
ability to hit for average have allowed her to play different roles
for the Bruins. During the course of her UCLA career, she’s
moved from third base to the outfield and back to third base. She
has also hit at several spots in the lineup before settling in as
the team’s leadoff hitter at the end of the regular season
last year. “I could put her anywhere,” Enquist said at
the press conference following Sunday’s game. “I could
put Andrea Duran anywhere” “Put her at catcher!”
sophomore pitcher Anjelica Selden interrupted to a chorus of
laughs. “Give me a week, maybe,” Duran responded.
COMING IN FRESH: UCLA’s trip to the
Women’s College World Series last season was one huge roller
coaster. After losing a game to Cal State Fullerton in their second
sub-regional game, the Bruins needed to win three games in a row to
advance to the super regionals. Riding the arm of Selden, the
Bruins defeated University of Nevada Las Vegas and then beat Cal
State Fullerton twice the next day, winning four out of their five
regional games in a three-day span to advance. This season, UCLA
won all of its regional and sub-regional games with relative ease,
playing just five games in both rounds. The change is welcomed by
Selden, who was able to limit her pitching in this year’s
first two rounds and says her arm is a lot stronger than it was
heading into the 2005 CWS. “(Junior pitcher/first baseman)
Lisa Dodd pitched a lot of games as well this season,” Selden
said. “My arm is healthy; everything is healthy.”
“Having (Selden) not have to (pitch as many innings),
it’s a numbers game,” Enquist said. “She’s
gonna be fresh.”
AROUND THE PAC-10: The Pac-10 will once again
be well represented this season in the Women’s College World
Series. Four of the eight teams in the World Series ““ Oregon
State, UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State ““ are Pac-10 schools.
It marks the eighth consecutive season that at least three Pac-10
teams have qualified for the College World Series. Three other
Pac-10 teams ““ Stanford, California and Washington ““
were eliminated in the super regionals. Cal, the national champion
in 2002, was denied its eighth consecutive World Series bid by the
Oregon State Beavers.