Today marks the start of a new chapter for the UCLA softball team.
Gone is the 2009 season that saw a stellar 45-11 record jaded by an early NCAA Tournament exit at the hands of unranked Missouri.
What awaits is a fresh start and a chance to display the months and months of rigorous work that the Bruins have put in.
“The girls have been working hard,” coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “January and February were really long months of training, so we can’t wait to go out there and start playing.”
That is not to say the season will be a cakewalk. In fact, the No. 6 Bruins will make their season debut this afternoon, squaring off against one of the top teams in the nation in No. 7 Georgia at Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational in Clermont, Fla.
Following that game are four others slated for the weekend, two of which are, again, against teams ranked among the top 20 in the country.
The idea behind the scheduling is simple: going up against three teams that appeared in the NCAA Tournament last year provides the Bruins with an early-season shot in the arm to keep the players on their toes.
“We talk about being prepared to be the one, and the only way you can truly gauge if you are prepared is to face an opponent that is competitive,” Inouye-Perez said. “We want to go against the best talent we can get.”
“We absolutely enjoy that intense atmosphere” senior pitcher Megan Langenfeld added. “Why not start the season off with some of the best teams in the nation? It puts us right in the cooker, and we’ll see the things that we need to work on and some of the things that we’re doing well.”
In the second half of Friday’s doubleheader, UCLA will face the University of Central Florida before returning on Saturday to play Florida Atlantic and No. 16 Tennessee.
The weekend invitational culminates Sunday with a rematch against No. 3 Michigan, who defeated the Bruins 7-4 the previous year.
Home Sweet Home
For one Bruin, the weekend stay in Florida is more than just the season opener.
That is because junior second baseman GiOnna DiSalvatore is a native of Palm Harbor, Fla., a fact that Inouye-Perez did not overlook when making the schedule.
“GiOnna was willing to make a commitment to come over to the West Coast, right after her sophomore year in high school,” Inouye-Perez said. “When we sat down with her family, we told them our commitment was to get back to Florida so that her family and friends could see her play … and I absolutely wanted to stick to that commitment.”
“I’m really excited,” DiSalvatore added. “It’ll be nice to have my family members who don’t get to come out here watch me play for the first time.”