Winning isn’t everything to NCAA

Monday, May 13, 1996

Despite win over Huskies, UCLA in difficult bracketBy Brent
Boyd

Daily Bruin Contributor

Why did they even take the trip?

That’s the question many members of the UCLA softball team could
be asking themselves. Despite traveling to Seattle and handing
top-ranked Washington its first loss at home all season, the Bruins
were rewarded for their efforts by being placed in the toughest
regional of the NCAA playoffs.

Although rain wiped out the second game of the scheduled
doubleheader, the Bruins (41-8) concluded their season winning
their last 13 games, all on the road, by defeating the Huskies for
the second time this season, 8-5.

However, the game did not affect UCLA’s placement in the
regionals as the commitee was unaware of the result when the
brackets were released. As a result, UCLA was sent to Fullerton as
the No. 2 seed, in one of eight four-team regionals. The
fourth-ranked Bruins will have to face 15th-ranked Fullerton
(38-25) in the opening round on Friday. Other teams in the
regionals include top-seeded and sixth-ranked Cal State Northridge
(42-14) and Southwest Missouri State (44-20).

With eight different regionals, each featuring four teams each,
it seems strange that the commitee would place two of the top six
teams nationally at the same site. However, those rankings are
determined by a poll of the National Softball Coaches Association,
and according to Cindy Cohen, chair of the NCAA committee, they
have no bearing on the decisions of the commitee.

Before the pairings were announced, co-head coach Sue Enquist
was almost predicting her team’s fate.

"The commitee is so unpredictable. There is no equation that
they draw from," said Enquist, whose teams the previous two seasons
were ranked second and sent to South Carolina both times.

Although the victory in Washington may not have done much to
help the Bruins’ playoff positioning, it certainly provides some
much needed confidence for UCLA. After having lost five of six
games in a three-week stretch against Washington and Arizona last
month, the Bruins showed that they are a legitimate national
championship contender with their domination in Seattle.

In the midst of a driving rainstorm, the Bruins battled back
from a 1-0 first inning deficit with a four-run rally in the third
capitalizing on three hits and two Husky errors.

The Bruins continued to pound starting pitcher Heather Meyer,
scoring two more in the fourth. Washington battled back with four
in the bottom half of the inning off eventual winning pitcher B’Ann
Burns (26-5), cutting their deficit to one.

But UCLA put two runs on the board in the sixth to secure the
8-5 victory.

The Bruins’ 14-hit attack was led by a 3-for-4 performance from
Ginny Mike-Mitchell, and two hits apiece from Kelly Howard, Alleah
Poulson, Nicole Ochoa and Julie Marshall.

The victory spoiled the day for the 2,104 in attendance, but not
the championship dreams of the Huskies. Despite the loss,
Washington (53-8, 23-4) captured its first ever league
championship, one-half game ahead of Arizona.

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Ginny Mike-Mitchell helped lead UCLA to an 8-5 victory over
Washington mance.