The tournament started on a rocky note for the Bruins Friday.
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 10, 1996 9:00 p.m.
The tournament started on a rocky note for the Bruins
Friday.
By Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA softball team traveled across the country this past
weekend, and returned with the championship trophy from the
Speedline/South Florida Classic in Tampa.
A two-run home run off the bat of freshman third baseman Julie
Adams in the bottom of the fourth inning gave the Bruins a 2-1
victory over the 24th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in the championship
game. The title was UCLA’s second tournament championship in as
many weeks, after winning their own UCLA Easton/Reebok Classic a
week ago.
The victory in the title game was a fitting conclusion to the
weekend for the Bruins, who completed the tournament with a perfect
8-0 record, improved their overall record to 20-2 and extended
their winning streak to 12 games.
The tournament started on a rocky note for the Bruins Friday as
Michigan State scored three runs in the first inning, a number not
reached by any other opponent, as the Bruins would go on to allow
only three runs during the remainder of the tournament. UCLA
battled back from the early deficit with four runs in the second,
behind RBI singles by senior second baseman Kelly Howard and junior
Nicole Odom, and by taking advantage of two Spartan errors.
Howard finished the game 4-for-5, while Odom, Ginny
Mike-Mitchell and Sandra Burkey each contributed two. The Bruins
added two more runs, one of which was junior Nicole Ochoa’s first
home run as a Bruin, giving UCLA the final 6-3 victory. Senior
pitcher Kaci Clark pitched well after the first inning, allowing no
runs and surrendering only two hits, en route to 11 strikeouts.
The second game of the afternoon belonged to UCLA sophomore Kim
Wuest. Wuest, generally used as a designated player, made her first
appearance ever for the Bruins on the pitching mound. In the
Bruins’ 10-1 victory over the Thundering Heard from Marshall, Wuest
gave up only four hits, and surrendered only one run. Wuest also
contributed at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two
runs scored.
UCLA finished off the day with an 8-0 victory over host South
Florida, and finished off pool play on Saturday with consecutive
9-0 victories over Hofstra and Indiana State.
The Bruins would conclude the tournament victories in the
playoff portion of the 24-team tournament with a 5-1 victory over
Western Illinois and a 4-0 victory over 13th-ranked Florida State,
before playing Iowa in the championship game.
Junior B’Ann Burns was voted most valuable pitcher of the
tournament, while Howard was also awarded all-tournament
honors.
Softball winning streak increases to 12 games
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