It was not the best of starts.
Last weekend, the UCLA softball team opened Pac-10 play, hoping to continue dominating the conference. Instead, the No. 11 Bruins (25-9, 1-2 Pac-10) continued to struggle, committing nine errors while only scoring four runs.
The Bruins lost 6-0 to No. 7 Arizona State (36-8, 2-1 Pac-10) on Friday, then split the remainder of the weekend with No. 5 Arizona (26-8, 2-1 Pac-10), winning 2-0 on Saturday and losing 11-2 on Sunday afternoon.
Friday’s game was nothing like UCLA would have hoped.
Junior pitcher Anjelica Selden (13-5) had trouble getting the job done, even with 11 strikeouts and only allowing three hits.
The problem was that two of the hits left the park. Add in walks combined with errors and the score ballooned to 6-0.
On the other side of the diamond, Sun Devil Katie Burkhart (17-5) was stifling. She allowed just one hit, to junior Krista Colburn in the third, while striking out eight en route to breaking her university’s career strikeout record. The Bruins last lost to Arizona State in 2002, but Friday was UCLA’s worst-ever loss to ASU.
The offensive doldrums continued after Burkhart and the Sun Devils left.
While Saturday’s game distinctly improved on Friday’s defensive effort, the Bruin offense languished until the sixth inning.
Then, freshman right fielder Kaila Shull walked on four pitches and came around to score when senior second baseman Lisa Dodd knocked a full count pitch over the center field wall. That shot would prove to be enough for UCLA to bring home the victory.
Selden brought her A-game with six strikeouts and two hits ““ and timely defensive support ““ in her fifth shut-out of the season.
The situation was similar on Sunday. Senior shortstop Jodie Legaspi knocked in two runs off Wildcat pitcher Taryne Mowatt (19-7), who had also started Saturday’s game. Legaspi singled in one during the first and the second on a solo home run in the fourth. And then the trouble started.
The fifth began with Wildcat Sarah Akamine reaching base on Lisa Dodd’s fielding error. It looked as though Selden would escape the inning, until freshman third baseman Julie Burney bobbled a ground ball which allowed Akamine’s pinch runner Jill Malina to score. After another single tied the game, Kristie Fox hit a three-run homer that sent the Wildcats over for good.
The next inning, Selden allowed another run before being relieved by freshman Megan Langenfeld.
For the three-game set, Selden threw 316 pitches in 19 1/3 innings and struck out 22.
The Wildcats added three more runs before Langenfeld could retire the side. The freshman also suffered from a pair of fielding errors to allow three more in the seventh.
The Bruin bats were dormant for the final three innings, making the final score 11-2.
The Bruins look to improve their record this weekend, when they host the Washington Huskies on Friday and Saturday.