When the NCAA announced the 64-team field that will compete for
the softball national title on Sunday, UCLA learned it had received
the seventh seed.
While such a seeding would have been disappointing news to the
Bruins the last two years, both of which culminated in UCLA winning
the NCAA Championship, it was welcomed with open arms on
Sunday.
That’s because the Bruins (30-16, 11-10 Pac-10), who have
been a jekyll-and-hyde team all-season long, will have the
opportunity to host the NCAA Regionals, with their first test
coming on Friday at Easton Stadium in the form of Loyola Marymount
(36-18, 16-4 Pacific Coast Softball Conference). UNLV and Cal State
Fullerton are the other two teams competing in UCLA’s
regional.
“This team has gone to hell and back and has realized what
it takes to win when the odds are against you,” UCLA coach
Sue Enquist said. “Overcoming adversity has shown us that we
are capable of great things in the regionals.”
While the Bruins were unsure of their postseason status going
into their weekend series against conference frontrunner Oregon
State, UCLA sewed up any remaining doubt of its chances of hosting
regionals with its performance.
Just a day removed from an embarrassing home loss to Oregon on
Thursday, UCLA soundly defeated Oregon State 9-0 on Friday, and
used a four-run third inning on Saturday to beat the Beavers 5-1
and sweep the series at Easton.
In both games, UCLA used sharp pitching and timely hitting,
something that has eluded the Bruins for most of the conference
season, to stifle Oregon State.
UCLA strung together four consecutive hits with runners in
scoring position on Saturday, highlighted by shortstop Jodie
Legaspi’s RBI single, to get to the Beavers’ ace
Brianne McGowan. Though the Bruin offense went unheard from for the
rest of the game, the damage had been done, and UCLA ace Anjelica
Selden was able to keep Oregon State at bay.
And according to Enquist, her team’s performance is
indicative of the Bruins’ readiness to begin the NCAA
Tournament.
“Our performance against OSU shows how much urgency this
team is playing with as we head into regionals,” Enquist
said. “The team has matured and is starting to perform at its
highest level all year.
“It was important that we took advantage of the few
chances we had because you never know how many more opportunities
you’ll get to come through,” Legaspi said.