Today marks the annual irregularity in the Pac-10 softball
schedule. UCLA will play at Washington for a single game, on a
midweek afternoon. In a sport with 50-game schedules in which every
other roadtrip involves a weekend and at least three games,
UCLA’s annual Wednesday game against Washington is unique and
inconvenient, but a necessity. For all but two of the teams in the
Pac-10, the midweek game is scheduled between local rivals. But
UCLA and Washington have no local rival in the Pac-10, since USC
and Washington State do not have softball programs. So while every
other game requires a short drive by the visiting team, the Bruins
and the Huskies alternate between flying to each other’s
stadium in the middle of the week every year for one game. The two
teams just split a two-game series this past weekend, with the No.
10 Bruins (24-11, 5-5 Pac-10) having their five-game winning streak
come to an end Saturday. “We’re never happy with a
loss, but you can’t get caught up in it,” UCLA first
baseman and designated player Kristen Dedmon said. “We have
some things to work on, but we’ve made a lot of
progress.” Today’s game kicks off a stretch of five
Pac-10 games in five days, with Cal and Stanford coming to UCLA for
the weekend. No. 23 Washington (24-15, 4-6) features one of the top
offensive lineups in the country but is below average in pitching
among Pac-10 teams. Still, in only two at-bats were the Bruins able
to drive in a run over the weekend. “We wanted to come out
with a little more intensity,” UCLA first baseman and pitcher
Lisa Dodd said. “But we’ll be OK. We’ll get back
into our rhythm.”
DEFENSIVE STRUGGLES: UCLA coach Sue Enquist remains confident in
her team but wasn’t pleased with Saturday’s 2-1 loss to
the Huskies. “We didn’t get things done
defensively,” she said. “We didn’t pick up
(pitcher Lisa) Dodd on defense.” The Bruin defense
uncharacteristically made two errors on Saturday, and made mental
mistakes on other occasions which may have prevented outs. One
mistake Enquist noted was not charging the ball, especially when
her infield was playing farther back.
IN THE CIRCLE: UCLA pitcher Anjelica Selden has established
herself as the team’s ace and will get most of the
team’s starts in the circle the rest of the season, but the
recent success of Dodd helps the team because Enquist does not feel
forced to start Selden in every game in a series. Having a reliable
second starter also becomes more important in doubleheaders like
Sunday’s or potentially, in the postseason. “Dodd
pitched a great game,” Enquist said. “It was great to
see her shut down the other team when she had to.” Dodd
starting also allows Enquist the opportunity to use Selden in
relief, as she has in Dodd’s last two starting games.
Saturday, Selden entered the game with two outs and two runners on
in the seventh inning. After allowing a single that did not score a
run, Selden struck the next hitter out. “Jelly came into a
pressure situation and got us out of a jam,” Enquist said.
“They had seen Dodd enough. Let them see someone else who
throws 7-8 mph faster. I wanted to see if they could make the
adjustment.”