Today, more than 1,000 softball fanatics, young and old, will gather at Easton Stadium for a chance to see the best of the best compete.
They’ll gather to see softball icon Jennie Finch.
They’ll gather to see five former Bruins play in red, white and blue.
And they’ll gather to see if the No. 4 UCLA softball team can take them all down.
A full-capacity crowd is expected to watch the Bruins take on the U.S. Olympic softball team today at 6 p.m.
The special exhibition will feature an Olympic team with high hopes for Beijing.
The team, with three gold medals to its credit, is looking for nothing less than that this summer and is using the best college programs in the nation as its training.
In addition to a number of former Bruins, Team USA boasts two current Bruin coaches. Tairia Mims Flowers, Stacey Nuveman and Natasha Watley will face off against their former team, while Andrea Duran and Lisa Fernandez will attempt to take down the team they now coach.
Although the Olympic team will surely be the Bruins’ biggest challenge to date, winning the game does not appear to be impossible.
Although Team USA trounced No. 2 Alabama, 7-0, and No. 24 Mississippi State, 13-0, within the last week, they needed a perfect game from Finch to slip past No. 18 Louisiana Lafayette, 2-0, on Saturday.
The Bruins enter today coming off a weekend sweep of No. 20 Washington. After the exhibition, UCLA will resume Pac-10 play and hit the road, traveling to the Bay Area to square off against Cal on Friday and Stanford on Saturday and Sunday.
In the coming weeks, Pac-10 play will conclude with a series against the Arizona schools at home followed by a series against the Oregon schools on the road.
Ticket holders to today’s event are advised to arrive early because the game is a sellout and all seats are general admission. The gates to Easton Stadium will open at 4 p.m., with Team USA scheduled to take batting practice at 4:10.