Anjelica Selden doesn’t really care about her statistics so long as the team wins when she is pitching.
So it was only fitting that on the day she forever ingrained herself in the UCLA record book, the team won one of its biggest games of the season.
Selden, not yet through her junior season, broke former Bruin legend Keira Goerl’s team record for career strikeouts as the No. 12 UCLA softball team (33-13, 9-6 Pac-10) completed their first three-game weekend sweep in Pac-10 play by defeating No. 13 Oregon State (35-18, 7-8) 5-3 on Sunday in front of a sold-out crowd of 1,328.
“I really don’t pay attention to stats,” Selden said. “It’s nice that (the record) comes along with me playing. It’s a great accomplishment I guess, but to me the Ws are what count the most.”
Selden retired her first 10 batters of the game, setting the record with her 1,096th career strikeout in the top of the third by fanning Beaver infielder Alana Ford.
She finished the game with seven strikeouts to run her record total to 1,099 while allowing eight hits (five of which were infield singles), three runs, and no walks in picking up her 17th win of the season.
“I just think (the strikeouts record) is a great reminder that she’s one of the top pitchers in the country,” senior shortstop Jodie Legaspi said. “She deserves that honor and I think we need to take a moment and give her some recognition. For her to break that record as a junior is unbelievable to me.”
As for the Bruins’ success this weekend, it would never have happened without Legaspi, who was the offensive key for the Bruins in both victories over the Beavers. On Saturday, Legaspi hit two home runs and drove in five of the Bruins’ six runs in their 6-3 victory over the Beavers. Then on Sunday, with UCLA trailing 2-0 in the fourth inning, Legaspi sent a two-run blast over the center field wall to tie the game and also scored the winning run on Megan Langenfeld’s clutch two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning.
It was also a big weekend for Langenfeld. The freshman pitcher and first baseman started on the mound and picked up victories in Friday’s 8-0 win over No. 16 Oregon and Saturday’s win over the Oregon State Beavers. Then on Sunday, she not only drove in the tying and winning runs with her line-drive smash to left field, but also picked up her first career save on the mound by getting out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam unscathed in the top of the seventh inning to secure the victory for Selden and the Bruins.
“I was just focused on trying to get the team and (Selden) a win after she had a good start,” Langenfeld said. “I was just thinking to myself, just get these last two outs without having the runs score.”
As for Selden, she now has the rest of this season and all of next season to build on her monumental accomplishment.
“It’s cool to know that I still have one more year to kind of smash the record,” Selden said.
QUICK HITS: The three-game sweep of the Oregon schools moved the Bruins into a three-way tie with Washington and Arizona State for second place in the Pac-10 … Sunday’s game marked the first sold-out game of the year at Easton Stadium … Legaspi’s three home runs this weekend gave her 42 for her career and moved her into sixth place in career home runs in the Bruin record book … Langenfeld’s save was the first save by a Bruin since April 8, 2006, when Selden saved a game against Arizona … Former Bruin player and eight-year UCLA assistant coach Gina Vecchione had her number retired in a surprise pregame ceremony on Saturday.