Early Bruin gets the prize in this tournament

  DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior Amanda Freed
hurls the ball during the NCAA’s last year. The Bruins’ will travel
to San Jose for the Early Bird Classic this weekend.
SOFTBALL Early Bird Classic vs. San Jose
State, Northridge, Cal Poly Sat. 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 2
p.m. Sun. 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 2 p.m. San Jose, Calif.

By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA softball team is No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA Preseason
Poll, but their official record is still 0-0. Knowing that the only
accolades that count are ones earned on the field, the Bruins will
attempt to notch their first six wins this weekend in the Early
Bird Classic in San Jose.

There, they will face the yeo-woman’s task of playing
three games each on Saturday and Sunday. As if that weren’t
enough, their start times each day would make any college student
cringe. At 9:30 a.m. Saturday they face their host, the San Jose
State Spartans. That match up will be followed at 11 a.m. by a game
against regional rival Cal State Northridge, and at 2 p.m. versus
Cal Poly for the “nightcap.”

Sunday is no easier. An 8 a.m. start time beckons the Bruins for
a date with Northridge, followed by a 9:30 a.m. start against Cal
Poly, and finally a 2 p.m. game with the host Spartans.

“As long as you’ve got the pitching to manage it
then you’ll be fine. Most of the players out of high school
are used to playing three to four games a day,” Northridge
coach Janet Sherman said.

UCLA coach Sue Enquist is wary of the two triple-headers since
the Bruins are not immune to the physical drain.

“Their bodies will be tested this weekend. We’ve had
a week of full practices, but nothing prepares us for playing three
a day except playing three a day. They have to play through
it,” she said.

Junior catcher Stacey Nuveman, set to play her first games since
her Olympic performance this fall, agreed.

“Physically, we haven’t even played one game in one
day. I think it’ll be a good test. It’ll force us to
stay focused,” she said. “We’re going to be tired
after the weekend, so we’ll use it to get us into better
condition.”

San Jose State finished at the bottom of the WAC last year with
a 19-37 overall, 6-14 conference record.

In this year’s conference preseason poll, WAC coaches
predicted another finish at the bottom for the team. But San Jose
returns 14 letterwinners, eight of them starters, including last
year’s WAC Freshman of the Year, outfielder Jackie Jimenez,
and sophomore catcher Roxanne Staniorski as the standouts for the
team. The duo batted .269 and .256, respectively.

Cal Poly also had a sub-par season in 2000, finishing 15-35
overall, 3-21 in the Big West Conference. Conference coaches chose
the Mustangs to finish seventh among the eight conference teams in
2001. The conference, however, boasts two teams in the preseason
top-25 poll: No. 14 Cal State Fullerton and No. 22 Long Beach
State.

The Northridge Matadors received votes in the preseason poll but
did not make the top 25. Though they play most of their sports in
the Big Sky Conference, they are in the Big West for softball. Big
West coaches ranked them third in the preseason poll.

Though the preseason polls predict the teams the Bruins face
this weekend do not come in with a high billing, UCLA knows that
it’s still the first few games of the season, and anything
can happen.

Enquist says her team is ready for whatever the opposition has
in store.

“I’m encouraged by our focus and intensity,
especially the last two days of practice,” she said.
“It’ll be good to see how our team reacts to opponents
they don’t know about.”

Northridge’s Sherman summed it up for the four teams
involved.

“It’s going to be exciting to see. We’re very
excited to get out there,” she said.