In a season of ups and downs, the UCLA softball team appears to
be peaking at the right time.
The Bruins swept a three-game weekend road trip at the Arizona
schools, the highlight beating No. 3 Arizona 6-0 Friday in
Tucson.
“I’m really excited about the way we’re
playing, getting on a roll heading into the postseason,” UCLA
pitcher and first baseman Lisa Dodd said. “This is my idea of
Bruin softball, battling every inning.”
Heading into the weekend, the Bruins had been in a slump, losing
five of their last six games. But with one week left in the regular
season, UCLA (28-15, 9-9 Pac-10) now finds itself on a three-game
winning streak.
“I was impressed with our ability to get into the flow
early in games,” UCLA coach Sue Enquist said. “We put
everything together.”
One of the parts of UCLA’s game that came together over
the weekend was the power surge of Caitlin Benyi, who a hit a home
run in each game, giving her a total of eight on the season.
The weekend of hot hitting was a pleasant surprise for Benyi,
who hit an NCAA-best 24 home runs a year ago, despite only having
smacked five round-trippers this season.
“It’s been a while since I’ve hit home runs
like that,” Benyi said. “It’s always nice to see
results, especially against quality teams.”
At the plate, the Bruins started to look like the offensive
juggernauts that staked UCLA back-to-back national championship
seasons in 2003 and 2004, scoring 20 runs and hitting six home
runs, a far cry from the team that had been mired in a slump for
most of this season. On top of Benyi’s three homers, Dodd,
Andrea Duran and Jodie Legaspi also hit long balls.
“We put the ball in play, we drove the ball well, we
capitalized on our opportunities,” Enquist said. “It
was the most consistent we’ve hit the ball all
year.”
The Bruins excelled in the circle as well, with Dodd throwing
two shutouts. Normally the team’s No. 2 starter, Dodd got two
starts in the same weekend for the first time in Pac-10 play.
On Friday, she shut out an Arizona team (38-9, 11-7) that has
one of the better offensive lineups in the country and then two
days later, allowed only one hit to Arizona State (28-22,
3-15).
“I’m happy to be coming back to the way I should be
pitching,” said Dodd, who started off the season in a slump
losing five games early on. “I’m very satisfied. I made
some bad pitches, but got out of trouble with some good
pitches.”
Freshman pitcher Anjelica Selden allowed only one run on
Saturday and struck out 13 batters, giving her 328 punch outs on
the season, 31 shy of the UCLA record set by DeeDee Weiman in
1994.
None of the three games were even close, as UCLA scored early in
all three ““ a huge difference from all of the close losses
the Bruins suffered during their slump.
“You never want to go into the postseason without facing
some challenges. It’s nice to be on the other side,”
Enquist said. “This team has gained a lot of maturity and
they trusted their talent and didn’t panic.”
With Friday’s win, UCLA swept the season series from rival
Arizona for the first time since 1985.
“That’s something we can hang on to,” Enquist
said. “It’s something we can put a feather in our cap
for and recognize.”