NCAA Regional set to begin at Easton

By Greg Lewis

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Intensity is the word of the week for the UCLA softball team.
And while everybody knows the third-ranked Bruins (39-11) have the
talent to win their NCAA regional at Easton Stadium, they just have
to go out and prove it.

“We’ve put the emphasis on defense,” head
coach Sue Enquist said. “Two-thirds of the practice was spent
on (defense).”

Tuesday and Wednesday’s practices, the final ones before
the postseason begins, were noticeably more focused than those of
previous weeks.

“We know that now is the time,” said third baseman
and last season’s playoff hero Julie Adams. “We will
stay disciplined, we don’t worry about the name on the other
team’s jersey. If we play Bruin softball, we’ll
win.”

Last year’s team flew through the postseason on its way to
winning the national championship.

UCLA won the last three games of the season handily, defeating
Oregon State and Oregon twice.

Helping the Bruins outscore their opponents 22-8 was the
Pac-10’s final Player of the Week, freshman Natasha Watley.
Watley went eight of 14 with a .643 slugging percentage and three
stolen bases. That broke Christie Ambrosi’s school record of
25. Watley finished the season leading the Bruins with a .427
hitting percentage.

“They’ve told me what the playoffs are about,”
Watley said. “There’s tension. And every little thing
counts.

“I’m a little nervous, but I know we can get it
done.”

First up in the Bruins’ title defense is sixth-seeded
Canisius (33-22). The Golden Griffins come to Los Angeles as the
the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference champs, but are only the
tenth-rated team in the NCAA’s Northeast Region.

Head coach Mike Rappl will throw MAAC Pitcher of the Year and
Tournament MVP Veronica Maher against the Bruins. Maher is 21-10 on
the year with eight shutouts and a 1.23 ERA. She is a control
pitcher who has walked only 30 batters in over 180 innings.

The main offensive threat for the Griffins is Jacqueline Fusco.
Batting in the lead-off spot, she has 58 hits, a .389 batting
average and 18 steals. No player in the Canisius lineup has more
than four home runs.

On defense, Canisius has been less than spectacular holding
runners, so look for Bruin speedsters such as Watley, Amanda Freed,
Lyndsey Klein and Lupe Brambila to have free reign on the
basepaths.

Rappl, an experienced coach with 475 career wins, is taking his
team to the regionals for the sixth time in the last eight
years.

Rounding out the rest of the double-elimination Region 4 bracket
are No. 2 seed Iowa, No. 3 Long Beach State, No. 4 Florida State
and No. 5 Bethune-Cookman.

* * *

Here is a look at the rest of the opening-round games of the
NCAA Regional at Easton Stadium.

Game 1 ““ No. 15 Iowa (44″“13) vs. Bethune-Cookman
(39-25), 10 a.m.

Iowa head coach Gayle Blevins has led the Hawkeyes to their best
year in recent memory.

No longer does Iowa play the corn-fed power game of mid-1980s
softball. The Hawkeyes have serious speed and one of the best
pitching tandems in the Midwest.

Leading the way for Iowa on offense is Jessica Bashor. Bashor
sports a .395 batting average, .638 slugging percentage along with
eight home runs and 33 RBIs. Behind Bashor is Amber Morrow (.361,
18 stolen bases), Kristen Johnson (.307 30) and Jill Knopf with 20
stolen bases.

Kristi Hanks and Kelly Zeilstra will take the circle with vastly
different styles. Hanks (21-7, 0.91 ERA, nine shutouts) has 216
strikeouts in 184 innings, while Zeilstra (22-6, 1.20) is a control
pitcher with only 100 strikeouts and 30 walks in 198 innings.

The Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman come into the regional on a
hot-streak, winning nine of their last 10 games.

The Mid-Eastern Conference champion “˜Cats have played some
close games against nationally ranked teams this year, including a
5-3 loss to No. 16 Oregon and 1-0 loss to No. 24 Florida State.

Their main threat is Janet Hall, who is hitting .368 with seven
home runs. Pitchers Jamie Long (14-5, 2.36) and Mayse Miran (18-12,
2.25), who has a tendency to punish hitters looking at the inside
of the plate (she has hit 22 batters), are backed up by a sub-par
defense with a fielding percentage of .950.

Game 3 ““ No. 20 Long Beach State (39-21) vs. No. 24
Florida State (48-25), 3:30 p.m.

The Long Beach State 49ers have played as tough a schedule as
anybody in the NCAA in preparation for the playoffs. The 49ers lost
6-0 to the Bruins, lost 1-0 to No. 6 Fresno State and were one of
only seven teams to beat top-ranked Washington.

LBSU, however, is a team that relies completely on its pitching.
The team batting average of only .251 dictates that Kristi Fox
(24-8 0.88 ERA, 10 shutouts) must win almost every important game
by herself.

The 49ers are coming into the tourney on a not-so-hot streak,
going 4-4 against lesser competition.

When Florida State comes to play at Easton, the team will bring
with it UCLA pitching legend Heather Compton (67 wins and career
0.52 ERA) as an assistant coach.

Aside from Compton, the Seminoles bring a boatload of stolen
bases and high batting averages.

Serita Brooks has a .400 batting average, 94 hits, a .506
slugging percentage and a whopping 42 stolen bases. Behind her are
Staci Brandon, who bats .378, and Brandi Stuart (.344, 40 stolen
bases).

Leslie Malerich (32-14, 1.20 230 strikeouts, 15 shutouts)
handles most of the pitching duties for Florida State.

The ACC-champion Seminoles, have also played a tough schedule,
losing to Cal and UCLA, but beating Fresno State. They are 20-1 as
the visiting team this season, but only 9-15 in neutral site
games.

The Seminoles also come in on a hot-streak, winning 17 of their
last 19.