Young Guns 3

Wednesday, May 6, 1998

Young Guns 3

SOFTBALL: Three amigas harness their friendly rivalry together
to fortify team

By Rocky Salmon

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Under the shadows of the looming pine trees at UCLA, the Old
West lives on.

As the filtering sun shines past the shadows, kicked-up dirt
slowly falls back to earth. The deep red glow catches the dust and
causes it to take on a life on its own, as the particles dance till
they fall upon the ground.

When the dust finally settles, the green backdrop of Easton
Stadium appears, UCLA’s own version of the "Green Monster."

That’s when they are noticed.

UCLA softball’s new posse.

A new calvary has come into Westwood with guns blazing.

A whirl can be heard above the dimming traffic, followed by a
loud pop.

Three gunners, firing away in the soft glow of the blazing sun,
stand upon their mounds, like cowgirls in a western movie arriving
on horses.

It is where they belong. It is what they live for.

To hurl the softball and watch it splash into the catcher’s
glove. To dream of gunning down a batter. To hear the proverbial
whiff on a blazing fastball. To regulate.

However, UCLA softball’s Young Guns almost never came together
to create a staff with three new pitchers.

Each new pitcher had a long way to travel before she could make
her gunslinging appearance in wild, wild Westwood.

"The pitchers all have had challenges but kept going," catcher
Carissa Millsap, said. "Pitching is mental, so when something
happens, the pitchers have had to readjust."

The Young Guns were almost left firing blanks until chaos
entered the picture.

The NCAA sheriff came into town and threw down the law, keeping
the Bruins from post season this year and causing a major stir.

Luckily for UCLA, three regulators would arrive in the setting
sun with .45’s blazing.

Conquering the Old West was Billy the Kid, the quickest and
craziest gunslinger.

Conquering opponents has been Stephanie Swenson, the fastest and
most dominating pitcher on the new UCLA squad.

Pure domination is what Swenson is all about. Compiling a 2.30
ERA and 48 strikeouts, Swenson has become UCLA’s silencer.

But Swenson was not always the key to the Bruin pitching staff.
In fact she was not even recruited from San Clemente High School by
the Bruins.

But with both parents as UCLA alumni, Swenson had her heart set
on being a Bruin at a young age.

"I have always wanted to go to UCLA," Swenson, the right-hander
said. "Once I walked onto campus I fell in love."

But her dreams were almost shattered as the Bruin pitching staff
was loaded with unbelievable stars, especially Christa Williams.
But then the sheriff laid down the law at Easton Stadium and
Williams transferred, taking away the heart of the pitching
staff.

"I thought I would go to Long Beach or USD," Swenson said. "But
I met Sue Enquist at a clinic by my house. I talked to her for
about five minutes, but we kept in touch. Then an assistant watched
me play, and things finally worked out."

In large part because of the probation levied upon UCLA, Swenson
saw a window of opportunity and slipped through.

"Stephanie called us last spring, and she was very interested in
coming to UCLA and playing for us," Enquist, UCLA softball head
coach said. "She got into UCLA on her own. She excelled at
academics. Stephanie is a great athlete. She is very quick. She is
capable of helping us on many different levels.

"I can’t imagine where we’d be without her."

To think that Swenson’s story ends here would be dead wrong.

Helping the Bruins to an 8-0 record at the start of the season,
Swenson appeared to be a deadly marksman, until the unthinkable
happened.

Swenson contracted mono and would be sidelined for one
month.

But Swenson has the heart and will to win, which let her come
out ahead and push behind her misfortunes. She had robbed the train
to start the season by starting off undefeated, and now it was time
to take the bank by finishing up the season on a high note.

"Mono has helped her by making her go back to square one,"
Millsap said. "When she used to mess up she would put so much
pressure on herself. But now when she is down 3-0 she can come
right back and strike out any batter."

As the season winds down, Swenson has heated back up and her
saddle is blazing. She has become the silencer of the club, the
quietest but the deadliest. She has become the leader of the Young
Guns, a silent killer of the opposition.

Lurking in Swenson’s shadows was Lindsey Gayer, a sort of
desperado for UCLA.

A loner who unbelievably got the chance to show what she
had.

Gayer was never set on playing softball throughout her whole
career; she decided to focus on academics over athletics.

Because of her love for academics, Gayer could not play softball
in high school.

"I played one year in high school; then I got hurt my sophomore
year," the right-handed freshman said. "Third year I was taking AP
classes after school, and the coach and I had different
philosophies. I had to decide on whether to quit and do the school
thing or play softball. I picked academics."

Gayer would go to UCLA for her academic achievements, but when
the softball team had six redshirts this year, Gayer decided to try
out.

Once again confusion would hit her life like a dirt devil.

"When I first tried out, I got the times all mixed up and ended
up having to pitch in front of (pitching coach) Lisa Fernandez,"
Gayer said. "I wasn’t even going to pitch because Enquist was going
to go with a two-pitcher rotation when Stephanie got mono."

"When Stephanie went down, Lindsey had to step up," Hofstra
transfer Millsap said. "When I saw her pitching I was amazed that
she hit her spots. I was amazed by her improvement and just said,
‘Are you kidding me?’"

Just like a desperado riding into town and having to face Wyatt
Earp in a showdown, Gayer’s first start would be halfway through
the season against high-powered Stanford.

Gayer would pitch valiantly but end up giving the ball over to
Erin Weiler. Gayer, being a junkball pitcher, has had to rely on
her smarts and cannot overpower pitchers like Swenson can.

As the season nears a close, Gayer has had a tough but fun ride
as UCLA’s third pitcher, but with 34 walks and only seven
strikeouts, Gayer has seen the ups and downs of softball.

A deep ray from the sun glares down from the sky and shines down
on the workhorse as she prepares to start another game.

Erin Weiler is the instigator of the Young Guns. a modern day
Jesse James. She has started a total of 20 out of the 41 Bruin
games.

When the guns start blazing she has often sent off the first
round.

"Erin will pitch the first part of the game, and Stephanie will
work the second part of the game," Enquist said. "All of these
pitchers have a team attitude, and this is very unique at the
pitcher’s position."

Weiler is a junkball pitcher, and in 1996-97 she led Palomar
Junior College to two consecutive third place state finishes. In
her last year at Palomar JC she compiled a .76 ERA.

But Weiler was not slated to be on the Bruin squad at the start
of the year.

"None of these girls were recruited," Enquist said. "Erin had
already been accepted to UCLA on her own."

Once again the telephone became the pitching staff’s best
friend, as Weiler talked to the coaches and was offered a chance to
play for the historical Bruins.

Weiler has had an immediate impact on the team and has garnered
a 2.80 ERA. But more importantly, the pitching staff has put down
their personal differences to strive for the team.

"We all complement each other, as far as our styles go," Weiler
said. "We are good friends on and off the field which has created
friendly competition."

This friendly competition has allowed the formation of the Young
Guns and each challenge each player has gone through has improved
the staff.

At the start of the year, UCLA had a lot of questions and this
young pitching staff has been the answer.

"This pitching staff and team is going to be one of my favorites
because of their personalities and their willingness to continue to
fight," Enquist said. "They’ve all held their heads high even when
they’ve struggled."

As darkness falls upon the diamond at Easton, the traces of the
Young Guns remain, with the back stop and pitching area filled with
the echoes of catcher gloves popping and fastballs whizzing through
the starry night.

When the season wraps up, all three new pitchers will be ready
to end in a blaze of glory.

Kimberly Edds, Daily Bruin Contributor, contributed to this
report.

UCLA’s freshman pitchers (left to right) Lindsey Gayer, Erin
Weiler and Stephanie Swenson look to give the troubled program a
bright future.

DAVID HILL

Stephanie Swenson

MARY CIECEK

Erin Weiler