The weekend’s games were tales of two different teams: Friday’s Bruins, which delivered a high-octane offense with all-around contribution, and Saturday’s Bruins, which tried to play catch up after a less than stellar offensive performance early.
The No. 12 UCLA (26-10, 2-3 Pac-10) softball team split the weekend’s two game series with the also-ranked-No. 12 Washington Huskies (24-10, 2-3 Pac-10), 10-6 and 6-8, in their second week of highly competitive Pac-10 play.
In Friday’s game, the Bruins came out to make a statement in a very competitive Pac-10 conference. They got solid pitching from Anjelica Selden in the circle, who recorded seven strikeouts, and also had solid offense, tallying nine hits, including a Jaisa Creps grand slam.
Saturday’s game was a bit different.
For Saturday afternoon’s game, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez elected to start freshman Megan Langenfeld in the circle, marking her first Pac-10 start. Langenfeld pitched well, but a sixth inning spurt of scores by Washington prompted UCLA’s first pitching change of the afternoon.
Selden came in and saw Washington’s offensive prowess firsthand, as the Huskies immediately registered two straight hits to tie the game at 3-3.
But Washington wasn’t done scoring.
Southern California natives Lauren Greer and Dominique Lastrapes both made key hits to propel the Huskies to an 8-3 lead, creating an almost insurmountable deficit for the Bruins.
UCLA answered with clutch play from the top of their batting lineup, as Krista Colburn, Creps and Lisa Dodd loaded the bases at the bottom of the seventh inning, with no outs. The Bruins’ star slugger Jodie Legaspi was intentionally walked to the chagrin of the home crowd, though Megan Langenfeld connected on her first swing to bring the Bruins back to within four. After a Washington pitching change, Kaila Shull entered and snapped her 0-for-14 streak of no hits with a two-RBI single, to bring the Bruins back to within two, only to be answered by Washington’s afternoon-long effective pitching which ended the game at 8-6.
To the standards of a regular program, it would be considered solid if the Bruins play two-thirds of the season through. But to the coach of one of college softball’s most prestigious and storied programs, it’s just simply not where it needs to be.
“I continue to tell (our players) that our best softball has yet to come,” Inouye-Perez said. “It would be different if we weren’t on top of our A-game and we were losing, but we’re not there yet.”
Offense and pitching are two facets of UCLA’s game that have been experiencing bouts of inconsistency. In seven of their last nine games, the Bruins have scored three runs or less. And while Selden has pitched well most of the season, she hasn’t shown the signs of explosiveness as in years past, and her relief pitchers are still gaining experience.
“It’s being able to be good on defense and offense and in the circle,” Legaspi said. “We’ve shown that as a team we can’t win without one of those elements.”
UCLA will need their senior leaders to help get them through an increasingly tough slate of Pac-10 games in the form of a seven-game road trip, starting with Oregon State on April 13 and a surprisingly successful Oregon squad on April 14-15. Legaspi insists the Bruins remain focused and take the loss in stride.
“They don’t pass out rings in April,” Legaspi said. “This is just part of the process.”