UCLA women take home hard-earned honors, wins

Tuesday, March 4, 1997

SOFTBALL:

Bruins stun Wildcats despite injuries, earn first place in
Pac-10By Melissa Anderson

Daily Bruin Staff

The UCLA softball team didn’t sweep No. 1 Arizona last weekend,
but their stellar outing in the second game earned the Bruins a
sweep of this week’s Pacific 10 honors.

After a perfect 5-for-5 outing in UCLA’s 5-1 victory, sophomore
third baseman Julie Adams was named the conference Player of the
Week while freshman pitcher Christa Williams was the Pac-10 Pitcher
of the Week.

Despite suffering from an injured left shoulder, Adams led the
Bruin charge against the Wildcats with a three-run home run in the
bottom of the first inning. On the week, Adams was 7-for-11 with
five RBIs and a run scored.

Unfortunately, that is the last damage Adams will do for a
while, as her injury will likely keep her out of the Bruin line-up
for the next week or two.

Williams earned the pitching honors by handing the ‘Cats their
first conference loss of the season. The freshman Olympian struck
out nine and allowed just seven hits while improving her record to
10-3.

On the week, Williams recorded two victories (the other against
Stanford) and struck out 20 in 18 innings pitched. This is the
first time either player has received player/pitcher for the week
honors and the fourth week this season a Bruin has been named on
the list. Pitcher B’Ann Burns, catcher Stacey Nuveman and first
baseman Alleah Poulson were the others.

Julie Adams wasn’t the only Bruin to play through an injury last
weekend. Sophomore Christie Ambrosi broke her left hand on a
pick-off play to first base early in the first game.

The shortstop remained in the game, however, going 3-for-4 at
the plate and scoring a run while playing all 14 innings. Her
status for this weekend’s game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is
questionable.

* * *

Stacey Nuveman is showing the conference what a power hitter can
do, leading the Pac-10 in RBI with 42. The freshman catcher is
second in home runs with 12 ­ just one behind Arizona’s Lety
Pineda ­ and second in slugging percentage (.861). In
addition, she is third in hits and third in triples (2). Ambrosi’s
four triples are tops in the conference.

* * *

With the victory over Arizona, UCLA (28-6, 9-3 Pac-10) moved
into first place in the conference, a game ahead of the top-ranked
Wildcats (31-2, 5-1). The Pac-10 currently has six teams ranked
among the top 25, more than any other conference. In addition to
Arizona and UCLA, the conference boasts No. 5 Washington, No. 13
Arizona State, No. 20 California and No. 21 Oregon State.

CHARLES KUO/Daily Bruin

Conference Player of the Week: third baseman Julie Adams.