Throughout all of the struggles the regular season brought the UCLA softball team, the players knew they were capable of playing at a higher level.
By closing out the season with wins against two of the top teams in the nation, the Bruins showed just how much progress they’ve made.
After coming behind to defeat No. 5 Arizona ““ the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament ““ in a hostile Tucson, Ariz., environment on Thursday night, No. 13 UCLA (36-16, 12-9 Pac-10) repeated the feat in Tempe, Ariz., with a 4-3 win against No. 9 Arizona State (49-15, 13-8) on Friday, before dropping a closely contested 7-4 game to the Sun Devils on Saturday.
“(This weekend) was very reminiscent of how we played at times last year,” said senior shortstop Jodie Legaspi, who compared the Bruins’ wins against Arizona and Arizona State to last season’s dramatic come-from-behind victory against Michigan. “We finally came into our own identity after searching for it throughout the first half of the season.”
Clutch performances by freshman pitcher/first baseman Megan Langenfeld and junior left fielder Krista Colburn were key in pushing UCLA over the edge in their first two victories.
Both players hit three-run home runs in the win over Arizona and both players had two RBIs apiece to account for all four of the runs in Friday’s win over Arizona State. Colburn’s two RBIs came on a one-out, two-run home run to left field, which gave the Bruins a 4-3 lead and proved to be the winning hit in another Bruin come-from-behind victory.
“I think we’re starting to have this “˜bring it on’ attitude,” Colburn said. “No matter what they throw at us, we can succeed and win.”
On Saturday, it looked like the Bruins were well on their way to what would have been a remarkable three-game sweep in the desert. But a weird fifth inning spiraled out of control on the Bruins and ultimately cost them the game.
A second-inning home run by freshman third baseman Julie Burney and a two-RBI single by senior center fielder Tara Henry had sparked the Bruins to a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Junior pitcher Anjelica Selden had cruised through the first four innings but walked three Sun Devils and gave up a grand slam in the fifth inning.
Selden allowed a walk and a single after the grand slam, which sent coach Kelly Inouye-Perez out to the mound for the second time in the inning, this time to make a pitching change. That’s when things began to get strange.
When Inouye-Perez concluded her conference at the mound and announced at home plate that she was bringing in Langenfeld to pitch for Selden, she was shocked to find out that she had been ejected from the game for holding two mound conferences in one inning prior to making the pitching change. Had she made the change before coming to the mound to hold the conference, she would not have been ejected.
“It’s a technicality,” said Inouye-Perez, who added that she had never been a part of a situation like Saturday’s in her 19 years as a player and coach. “You have to go to the plate before you go to the mound. It’s as simple as that.”
Though the Bruins rallied in the top of the seventh, they couldn’t muster any more runs and ultimately fell to the Sun Devils.
Still, Inouye-Perez was happy with the Bruins’ offensive attack in both games against Arizona State junior pitcher Katie Burkhart.
“I believe that Katie Burkhart is the best pitcher in our conference,” Inouye-Perez said. “We swung our sticks effectively at strikes and got the payback. (On Saturday) they scored more runs than us, but it wasn’t a game where we say they straight up beat us. We could’ve easily walked out with a sweep.”