Tough weekend awaits Bruins in Arizona

By Jim Guthrie

Daily Bruin Contributor

With the season winding down, the UCLA softball team has dreams
of postseason play dancing in their heads. So what could possibly
bring them back down to Earth?

Simple: match them up against the No. 2 and No. 4 ranked teams
in the country for a weekend.

UCLA tries to maintain the winning streak it started last
weekend with two wins over California as it travels to the desert
to do battle with the Arizona schools this weekend. The Bruins will
face the fourth-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday and then
will have two crucial games on Saturday and Sunday against the No.
2 Arizona Wildcats.

While the Bruins have all but locked up an NCAA regional berth
and possibly home-field advantage, a good showing this weekend
could propel them to the top of the rankings. But this weekend will
be no walk in the park. The Bruins are battling not only
highly-ranked foes, but also inconsistency from game to game and
inefficiency on both the offensive and defensive ends.

“I think we are in a good place, but we have to work on
consistency at the plate,” head coach Sue Enquist said.
“We know these clubs very well, and their pitching patterns
are consistent, yet they are effective and talented. If we stick to
our game plan we should be able to do good things.”

The Bruins hope to work out the kinks prior to the Arizona games
because those schools are notorious for capitalizing on
opponents’ mistakes. This was evident when the Bruins locked
horns with the schools earlier in the season at Easton Stadium,
falling to Arizona 6-4 and then splitting a pair of games with
Arizona State.

“Last time we broke down defensively so we are going to go
in there and try play our game with solid defense,” Bruin
pitcher Courtney Dale said. “We have focused on playing good
defense and getting consistency all week.”

The Bruins have been running on all cylinders during the last
couple of weeks. Last weekend, after dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker to
Stanford in 10 innings, the Bruins rebounded to demolish the Golden
Bears 8-0 and 5-0. Much of the credit for those wins can be given
to the stellar pitching performances of Amanda Freed, Stephanie
Swenson and Dale, who pitched three solid innings in her return
from a shoulder injury. Additionally, the defense has tightened
down to make some stellar plays and help out their teammates on the
mound.

But despite the offensive explosion in the Cal games, the Bruins
are still looking to improve their offensive output, especially in
moving runners into scoring position on bunts and sacrifices. This
will be key to the Bruins’ success this weekend, as they aim
to put some runs on the board early and take the pressure off the
defense.

The Bruins seem to be on the brink of becoming a dominant team.
But they know the little adjustments they have to make must start
this weekend.

“We came off two big wins this weekend,” catcher
Julie Marshall said. “It’s kind of winding down here
and I think we are in a good place. We are really starting to gel
together and our sticks are coming around.”

“This is the perfect time for us to come together and move
down the track at the same speed,” she added.