Thursday, March 13, 1997
SOFTBALL:
UCLA faces top-ranked rival Wildcats for first time this
seasonBy Melissa Anderson
Daily Bruin Staff
Spring break isn’t shaping up to be much of a vacation for the
UCLA softball team, which hosts four key conference match-ups in
the upcoming weeks.
In what many perceive as the game of the year in collegiate
softball, the Bruins face top-ranked Arizona (25-0) for the first
time this season March 29 at Easton Stadium.
The Wildcats return with much of the same lineup as last season,
with the exception of Jenny Dalton, the team’s leading hitter.
Arizona does, however, have the services of All-American catcher
Leah Braatz  who redshirted last season  and Olympic
outfielder Leah O’Brien leading a squad whose greatest advantage
over UCLA (22-4, 3-1) is its experience.
UCLA struggled last season against the defending national
champs, losing all five games, including a meeting in the College
World Series. But there was one key ingredient the Bruins were
missing last year that they have made up for this year  a
deep pitching staff.
In 1996, B’Ann Burns shouldered the majority of the burden on
the mound, pitching twice as many games as Kaci Clark. This year,
however, UCLA has a corps of pitchers three-deep, and any one of
them can do some damage.
"This year we definitely have more depth in our pitching and
that’s the nucleus of most teams," UCLA assistant coach Kelly
Inouye said. "If you have the pitching, then you are going to stay
in the game against most teams. When you only have one, like what
happened to us last year, we couldn’t get by Arizona.
"It’s going to be good. It’ll definitely be the game to
see."
But first, the Bruins have to prepare for three other Pac-10
foes as Oregon, Oregon State and Stanford visit Easton Stadium.
Although UCLA defeated both Oregon schools earlier this season in
non-conference tournament play, it struggled in its victories over
the Cardinal in the Bay Area and cannot afford to let itself look
past anyone.
"We haven’t really started thinking about Arizona yet," Inouye
said. "Stanford gave us a good game last time, so we just need to
focus on who we are playing."
UCLA won’t be playing anyone this week, as the Bruins have a
week off to prepare for finals and their upcoming homestand.
According to Inouye, the break is needed after playing an 18-game
stretch on the road in which No. 3 UCLA racked up 17 straight
victories and boasted the Pac-10 Player of the Week in three of the
last four weeks.
Burns won the award for her conference performances against the
Bay Area schools, while freshman catcher Stacey Nuveman captured it
two weeks ago after hitting six home runs to lead UCLA to the title
at the San Diego State Invite. Most recently, senior first baseman
Alleah Poulson garnered the title after UCLA swept Cal State
Northridge last week.
While the awards are nice, it is even better for the Bruins to
see that the depth they counted on at the beginning of the year to
lead them back to the World Series is finally surfacing.
"In the beginning, nobody really stepped up," Inouye said. "Now,
it’s all being shouldered evenly. We are all doing well and they
are having fun. They’ve been playing such amazing ball, it’s
great."