If there was any cause for concern for the top-ranked UCLA
softball team heading into NCAA Regionals play over the weekend, it
was the recent lack of power displayed by the Bruins. The Bruins
sported a seven-game home run drought heading into the weekend, and
dropped their final two games of the regular season to
Stanford.
But once the postseason switch was turned on, so was the
Bruins’ power surge. UCLA pounded out eight home runs in the
three weekend games, and stormed through regional play with three
convincing wins over Missouri State, Long Beach State and San Diego
State to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals next weekend.
“Hitting ““ it comes and goes, even with a team as
talented as ours,” coach Sue Enquist said. “The players
understand that that happens. … I’m just really impressed
with their ability to understand that.”
The Bruin bats were hot from the start against Missouri State on
Friday. The Bruins scored seven runs in the first two innings of
the game, with junior Jodie Legaspi and senior Caitlin Benyi each
smashing home runs. Legaspi added another blast in the bottom of
the fifth inning, and sophomore Krista Colburn joined the home run
parade in the bottom of the sixth as the Bruins cruised to an 11-2
victory.
“I think it was critical for us to come in early in the
first game (against Missouri State) and do well, and it reminded
them that, “˜Yeah, we are good,'” Enquist
said.
The bats showed no signs of slowing Saturday against former UCLA
pitcher and current Long Beach pitcher Michelle Turner. Turner, a
redshirt junior who transferred to the 49ers from UCLA after the
2004 season, threw a complete-game shutout against her former team
back in February.
But in Saturday’s game, Turner gave up home runs to
Colburn, Legaspi and junior Lisa Dodd, while her counterpart on the
mound, UCLA sophomore Anjelica Selden, threw a two-hit shutout for
her second win of the weekend in the Bruins’5-0 win over the
49ers.
“They have hitters 1-9 (in the order) and any of them can
do it,” Turner said after the game. “It is just a
matter of time with those guys.”
Legaspi’s home run, her third of the weekend, gave her a
team-leading 15 on the season.
“The home runs are a non-factor for me,” Legaspi
said. “We need to manufacture runs.”
Legaspi’s comment was a foreshadow of Sunday’s game,
in which the Bruins had to manufacture runs to defeat San Diego
State.
In the second inning, senior Alissa Eno, who was pinch running
for Emily Zaplatosch, beat out a fielder’s choice at second
base on a Legaspi ground ball, advanced to third on a sacrifice
bunt by Dodd, and slid around a strong throw from center field on a
sacrifice fly by junior Whitney Holum.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Bruins had more of the same
as they used three singles, a hit batter and a botched
fielder’s choice play to score their next two runs before
junior Ashley Herrera cleared the bases with a grand slam that
broke the game wide open.
Selden pitched yet another complete-game shutout, allowing just
four hits and one walk while striking out six to win her third
decision of the weekend.
“I think the most important thing this weekend was to have
this kind of game where they had to work a little bit; figure
things out,” Enquist said. “They had to get back to
appreciating getting runners on.”
The Bruins now move on to the NCAA Super Regionals, where they
will host South Florida in a best-of-three series beginning
Saturday at 3 p.m. The Bulls breezed through their regional with a
win over North Carolina and two wins over Florida Atlantic.
“We don’t know a lot about them,” Enquist
said. “We’ve got some homework to get done.”