Sunday night, the UCLA softball team gathered for its annual team banquet.
Concluding the regular season, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez announced the winner of the team’s most valuable player award: “the team.”
And after a week that saw junior second baseman GiOnna DiSalvatore earn Pac-10 Player of the Week honors, senior Megan Langenfeld take the conference Player of the Year award, and ten Bruins receive All-Pac-10 commendations of some sort, the players could have easily attributed the team’s success to themselves.
But through all the commendations and individual recognition, the team concept still remains.
“Yeah, there are a select few that are really talented and have done a lot statistically, but everyone on this team matters and everyone contributes somehow, someway,” DiSalvatore said. “Everybody is valuable whether they are on the field or in the dugout. Everyone is as important as the person to their right or left.”
And in this weekend’s double elimination regionals, that very team, No. 5 seed UCLA (40-11), is opening the NCAA Tournament at Easton Stadium, starting off with St. Mary’s (30-21) today.
The Bruins are entering the tournament after limping into the conference season with five consecutive defeats. Throughout Pac-10 play, the Bruins experienced a slew of hurdles:
Two All-Americans went down.
The line-up was a daily experiment.
The rotation missed its ace.
And the Bruins needed a boost of some sort to make a run to even climb back into the standings.
But the antidote came in that same package of injuries, alternate line-ups and rotated pitching schemes. Through all of that, a different team emerged, and after winning 11 straight and 13 of the final 15, UCLA finished second in the conference.
“Rankings don’t matter,” Inouye-Perez said. “I was disappointed in how the Pac-10 dropped (in rankings) because the conference provides such a strength of schedule. That’s what the Pac-10 is ““ every opponent is worthy. The Pac-10 in general prepares you for the postseason.”
Saint Mary’s is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance after posting the best record in school history. UCLA is 10-0 all-time against the Gaels, but has not faced them since 2000.
The Gaels are paced by sophomore Britany Linton in the circle, who has posted a 17-11 record with a 2.46 earned run average in 196 innings pitched.
If Linton struggles, she is backed up by fellow sophomores Michelle Mounts and Kayla Gonzales, who are hitting .367 and .336, respectively.
Other teams in the region include San Diego State (33-14), and the Fresno State Bulldogs (39-19), who the Bruins defeated 5-4 earlier in the season. The winner of the contests today will play Saturday at 1 p.m., with the losers of the first games playing shortly thereafter.