In the clubhouse of a quiet Easton Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, Donna Kerr sat silently, the lights off but a projector running.
Next to her on the couch were coach Kelly Inouye-Perez and assistant coach Lisa Fernandez, as the three of them went over sequence after sequence of the senior’s pitching mechanics from various games over the season.
Kerr isn’t oblivious to the challenge that lies ahead for her and the UCLA softball team. The No. 9 Bruins (28-7, 4-2 Pac-10) square off against the No. 1 Arizona State Sun Devils (37-4, 4-2) today through Sunday, arguably the toughest conference foes they’ll have faced so far.
“It’s going to be a big one,” Kerr said of the series. “You’re always a little nervous going out there, but those are the good nerves. I didn’t really have the weekend that I would have liked to have had against Stanford this past weekend, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there.”
As for the weekend against the Cardinal, it was both a memorable and a forgettable series for the Bruins. After winning the first game on a walk-off home run from junior left fielder Andrea Harrison in the 14th inning, UCLA went on to drop the last two games to then-No. 13 Stanford.
“The first game, we obviously went 14 innings, and it was just an amazing feeling; we all had the belief that we were going to come back,” freshman second baseman Talee Snow said. “I think we carried that into the second and third day. We were a little passive, thinking that we’d come through in the next inning, but the balls just didn’t drop, and we didn’t come through.”
The Bruins will have to bring their best over these next three days if they’re banking on redeeming themselves. The Sun Devils boast a phenom in freshman pitcher Dallas Escobedo, easily their staff ace with a 1.44 earned run average and an 18-2 record in the circle.
“I’m interested to see how (Escobedo) looks,” Kerr said. “I’ve heard she’s been doing really well, so I think our batters are really just focusing on not falling into what she wants to pitch and instead looking for their pitches.”
Overall, the Sun Devils lead the Pac-10 in both team hitting (.368) and team ERA (1.77). And last season, ASU took the wind out of UCLA’s conference home opener, sweeping the three-game set at Easton. Suffice it to say, the Bruins have their work cut out for them.
“The Pac-10 is going to teach us a lot of lessons,” Inouye-Perez said. “This weekend will be a good test, facing ASU at their house. The last two seasons have been interesting; the last time we were there, we beat them pretty good, and the last time they were here, they beat us pretty good. We’re going to go in there with a clean slate, and it’s a great atmosphere for us to get ready for the end of the season.”