Softball wins two despite quiet bats
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 23, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 24, 1996
By Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Contributor
Known for her outstanding abilities with the glove, sophomore
left-fielder Laurie Fritz showed what she could do with the bat
Tuesday night against Santa Clara. A single into center field, her
fifth hit all season, gave the UCLA softball team an extra-inning
1-0 victory in the opening game of its doubleheader.
After playing exclusively top-20 teams for the past month, the
UCLA softball team looked for a reprieve and two victories when
they traveled to take on the Broncos for a twin bill.
Although UCLA emerged with the sweep, winning the second game
4-2, it did not come so easily for the Bruins. On the night, Santa
Clara out-hit UCLA 12-11.
In the first game, UCLA’s usually relentless hitting attack
could only muster two hits off the combined efforts of Shawna
Reeves and Jessica Accord in the first seven innings. However,
B’Ann Burns five-hit shutout effort kept the Bruins in the game and
forced the contest to be decided by the international
tiebreaker.
By rule, a runner is placed on second base with nobody out to
start each extra inning. In the UCLA (32-8) half of the eighth,
Nicole Ochoa started on second and was immediately sacrificed to
third. However, Christie Ambrosi lined out, and the Bruins were on
the verge of stranding yet another runner on base. But then Fritz
stepped up with her clutch hit to score Ochoa and give the Bruins a
1-0 lead.
Burns (20-5) easily held the Broncos scoreless in their half of
the inning to hold off the upset.
In the nightcap, the Bruin bats came alive  well, at least
the one Kelly Howard was using. Howard went 3-for-3 from the plate
and scored three of UCLA’s four runs. The Bruins scored in the
first three innings en route to an early lead, only to see Santa
Clara battle back with two in the fifth, cutting the deficit to
one.
Burns came on in relief of Kaci Clark in the sixth and retired
the Broncos (16-36) silently in the remaining two innings,
surrendering only one hit. UCLA added one more in the seventh for
the final margin.
With the sweep, the Bruins increased their series domination
between the two clubs to seven consecutive victories dating back to
1987, outscoring the Broncos 31-3.
