Softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez tells her players to “dream for those game-defining moments when you can be the one.”
Who will be “the one” this weekend?
Up until last weekend, it seemed as if the Bruin softball roster had already proved that anyone would take that game-defining role at any moment. Yet the No. 4 Bruins were unable to produce a game-clinching performance when they were shut out by both No. 1 Arizona State and No. 7 Arizona on Friday and Saturday, dropping their perfect Pac-10 record to 8-2 and their overall record to 36-5.
Sunday’s revenge on Arizona put the Bruins in a confident position to maintain a positive outlook for this weekend’s series against the Washington Huskies, and the rest of the Pac-10 season.
“We really have been focusing on our defense and our communication because that’s what kind of fell apart in Arizona,” freshman Samantha Camuso said. “We’re still confident in ourselves, and we know what we can do. (The losses were) just a little hardship, but it’s something that we’ve already gotten over.”
But have the Bruins adjusted enough to be successful against another tough Pac-10 opponent this weekend?
In their matchup earlier this season, the Huskies showed their fighting spirit after smashing the Bruins’ five-run lead in the sixth inning to take the game to extra innings. Though UCLA came out on top, it came away with a very important lesson about Washington.
“They are a very scrappy team; they always find way to get on base,” senior Krista Colburn said. “We did go up by five runs on them, and they found a way to come back. Knowing that, we just need to keep trying to score and never be satisfied with a five-, six- or even seven-run lead.”
The cold Washington weather is another factor that Colburn believes the Bruins will have to be aware of in her home state.
“It’s always my favorite trip because I get to be in my home environment,” Colburn said. “But more than that, getting everyone ready for the cold weather is important because it will be colder than we’re used to. But I still think that it will be a good trip and environment for the whole team.”
For Inouye-Perez, this weekend poses questions that are bigger than just Washington weather.
“Right now we’re just focusing on playing the game,” she said. “Can we play the game no matter where we are, what the stadium is, who the crowd is, who’s watching, can we just play our game? If we can do that, then we’re playing championship softball.”