When asked about her team’s 3-2 loss to the Huskies at
Washington on Wednesday, UCLA softball coach Sue Enquist put it
very succinctly. “You don’t have enough space to break
down all the mental errors we had,” she said. Offensively,
the slump that had plagued UCLA earlier this season came back on
Wednesday. It’s not that the Bruins have ever struggled to
get runners on base. It’s just that the runners have stayed
there. UCLA left 12 runners on base, hitting only 1-for-11 with
runners in scoring position. “I’m very
disappointed,” Enquist said. “We didn’t come to
play, and they did. They jumped on us early.” The No. 10
Bruins (24-12, 5-6 Pac-10) had many golden opportunities to score.
In the second inning, they had a runner on second base with one out
and couldn’t score. In the third, they had the bases loaded
with one out and couldn’t score. In the fourth, they had the
bases loaded with no outs and couldn’t score. Kristen Dedmon
hit a two-run single in the fifth to score UCLA’s only runs.
But later in the inning, the Bruins had runners on second and third
with one out and couldn’t score again. And in their final
rally in the seventh, the Bruins had a runner on second with only
one out and could not score the tying run. “This would have
been a great game to win,” Enquist said. “It would have
been a big confidence boost. We were starting to hit both
Washington pitchers well.” No. 22 Washington (25-15, 5-6) is
known for having one of the best offensive lineups in the nation,
but its pitching is last in the Pac-10 in ERA. The two pitchers the
Huskies used in the game, Caitlin Noble and Ashley Boek, are the
bottom two pitchers in the Pac-10 in ERA among pitchers who have
thrown 100 innings. “In this game, we did look a lot like we
did in the beginning of the season,” Enquist said. “We
were playing reactionary softball.” UCLA pitcher Anjelica
Selden struggled in the early part of the game before settling into
a groove. The Huskies scored single runs in the first, third and
fourth innings, two of them on solo home runs. “Jelly needs
to work on being ready when the game starts,” Enquist said
about her pitcher, who did strike out 12 batters in six innings.
“She has to be ready when she goes out there.”
NOTE: Sunday’s doubleheader against Stanford is nearly
sold out, with only 100 tickets still available. The remaining
tickets for Sunday will be sold that day starting at 9:30 a.m. at
Easton Stadium.