After finishing the 2008 regular season with two wins and a loss in Oregon, the Bruin softball team capped off its weekend Sunday night when it received the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Women’s College World Series.
UCLA (45-7, 17-4 Pac-10) stifled the Oregon Ducks (33-27, 5-16), 3-1, to complete the season sweep on Thursday, thanks in large part to senior pitcher Anjelica Selden’s 13-strikeout performance.
The Bruins split their two games with Oregon State (28-31, 6-15), falling 5-3 to OSU on Friday but bouncing back to finish the regular season on a high note with a 5-1 win.
“Dropping (Friday’s) game was a really good reality check for us,” senior Krista Colburn said. “In the postseason, you can drop a game. Every section is double elimination. Being able to bounce back from that loss was good practice for the postseason.”
Late Sunday night the Bruins discovered their postseason fate when they were awarded the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The high ranking recognizes the strength of the Bruins’ schedule. This season, UCLA played 18 of the 64 tournament teams. Twelve of those 18 teams came from outside the Pac-10, and the Bruins amassed a 21-5 record against them.
“I’m very pleased that we were recognized for our strength of schedule,” coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “We went head-to-head with teams that are in the postseason. We were looking forward to playing them earlier in the season.”
Of the tournament teams the Bruins have played this season, only Oklahoma, Cal State Fullerton, Arizona and Arizona State have defeated the Bruins. One of those teams, Cal State Fullerton, is the team the Bruins will face in the first round of the NCAA regional on Friday.
The Titans (27-26-1) defeated the Bruins 1-0 in eight innings at Easton Stadium on March 12, and the loss will provide the Bruins with added motivation.
“It’ll be a great opportunity for the girls to have a little payback,” Inouye-Perez said.
The other two teams in the Bruins’ regional are Nevada (42-16), a team the Bruins beat 10-1 in the first game of the season, and Purdue (34-21), a team that has never before played in the tournament.
With their high seeding, the Bruins will have a chance to erase any lingering memories of last year’s postseason disappointment, when the No. 12-seeded Bruins lost consecutive games to Hawai’i and Loyola Marymount for a first-round exit.
“I think hands down we will have more success than we did last year,” Colburn said. “Last year’s erased from our memory. We have nine people that weren’t there.”
The road to Oklahoma City will begin at Easton Stadium for the Bruins, who will again play host in the regional round thanks to their seeding.
If UCLA gets out of the regional, the team would also enjoy home-field advantage in the super regional, where they would most likely square off against No. 15-seeded Georgia.
The Bruins would not see any of their Pac-10 competitors until the College World Series, which takes eight teams.
As anticipated, the No. 1 overall seed was awarded to the Florida Gators, who come into the tournament with a record of 62-2. Every Pac-10 team except Oregon State earned a berth to the postseason. Arizona State received a No. 6 seed, Arizona received a No. 7 seed, and Stanford received a No. 12 seed.
Despite the long road that still remains, the Bruins have the same goal they did at the beginning of the season.
“Trying to win a national championship is really the goal,” Colburn said. “Keeping our eyes on that goal ““ not focusing on last year’s lack of success ““ that ultimatum that we set is what is pulling us through.”