After a long offseason, fans and analysts often quench their thirst for sports by examining preseason games under a magnifying glass, hoping to predict information about the regular or even the post season. However, preseason play generally presents unique challenges that regular season play does not, just as it has for the UCLA softball team this February.
No. 12 UCLA (13-4) just finished up its third tournament, and has yet to face a Pac-12 opponent. These tournaments pack a lot of softball into a rather short period of time, and average about five or six games per team each weekend. The Bruins have participated in six doubleheaders so far, and have five more doubleheaders on the schedule during their next two tournaments.
“When you get into the (Pac-12) season, it’s a little better,” said senior pitcher Ally Carda, who struggled against No. 9 Florida State on Saturday, her third consecutive day in the circle. “You have three games a weekend, and right now we’re playing six.”
The doubleheaders come to an end right as conference play begins, and the Bruins’ schedule will normalize. Starting March 13, UCLA will play a three-game weekend series against a Pac-12 team every weekend until the regular season ends on May 9. No more doubleheaders and no more six-game weekends.
Along with a tougher schedule, UCLA dealt with easing junior pitcher Paige McDuffee back into a spot in the pitching rotation. Injuries forced McDuffee to miss March of last season and she has struggled to stay in the circle this season.
“I can’t be too hard on myself with how I do because I’m not getting enough practice, ” McDuffee said. “But having two appearances was exciting.”
Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez also spoke about how she looks at the results of preseason games.
“We often know why we didn’t get that (winning) outcome at the end. If we don’t execute some of the little things, then we’re not going to get that W,” Inouye-Perez said. “Separate from who we played, it’s how we played that determines the outcome of where we are today, and I’m excited about what’s next.”
Inouye-Perez made it clear that she was much more interested in watching her team unify than she was in the results her team produced versus specific opponents. She said that the opposition is irrelevant at this point in the season because the focus should be on what can be learned about the UCLA team.
“Our ability to be able to learn as much as we can – and we have a lot of new people on this team – that’s the biggest positive of it.” said Inouye-Perez. “The most important thing (to keep track of) is how this team is learning a lot about itself.”