No.1 Softball drenched in storm of success
Aiming to continue streak, team will face Arizona State
By Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Contributor
After sweeping through eight games in Florida en route to the
Speedline/South Florida Classic title last weekend, the UCLA
softball team returned to Southern California only to be washed
away by rain. Wednesday’s matchup with Long Beach State was
cancelled, their third rainout of the season.
UCLA (20-2 overall, 3-1 Pacific 10) will look to continue its
12-game winning streak and try to maintain their hold on first
place in a noon matchup with Arizona State today at Easton Stadium.
The Sun Devils open their portion of the conference schedule having
won seven of their last eight games, to improve their overall
record to 12-6.
Arizona State is led by junior Tammy Lohmann, who is currently
hitting .491, and 1995 All-Pac-10 first-team honoree Alysea
Johnson, who is batting .393 and leads the team with 10
doubles.
But the Bruins will try to counter this offensive attack with
the help of Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week, B’Ann Burns. Last weekend,
Burns improved her record to 12-1 and captured tournament Most
Valuable Pitcher honors, when she threw four complete game shutouts
and also earned a save. During the last day of the
single-elimination tournament, Burns threw three consecutive
seven-inning games, and allowed no unearned runs.
The Bruin lineup is be led by senior second baseman Kelly
Howard, who kept her average at .500 by going 13-for-26 in the
tourney, including a home run and two doubles. The two doubles
increased her career total to 45, and left her just one away from
tying UCLA career leader Jennifer Brundage.
Over spring break, the Bruins continue their longest home stand
of the year with a non-conference game versus San Diego State on
March 24, sandwiched between two key conference matchups with
Oregon (March 23) and Oregon State (March 26). All games start at 1
p.m.
Following the home stand, the team travels to Tucson on March
29, to take on No. 3 Arizona in a rematch of last year’s national
championship game. The Wildcats have stormed out of the gate at
21-2, and will be ready for revenge against the Bruins, who won
four of their five meetings last season.
"Arizona lost a lot of power from last year, and has turned into
more of a slap hitting team," said UCLA co-head coach Sharron
Backus, who reached her 400th victory in last year’s title game win
over the Wildcats. "They are always good, but we can’t catch
ourselves looking ahead to this game. All Pac-10 games are
important."
An understatement exemplified by last season, when UCLA topped
Arizona in three out four regular-season games, but missed the
conference championship by half a game.
If the Bruins do manage to get through spring break without a
conference loss, they will be in command of the Pac-10 race, and
well on their way to bringing the conference title back to Westwood
for the first time since 1993.Comments to
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