Squad remains unbeaten with three wins in Easton Classic
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 4, 2001 9:00 p.m.
NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Sophomore Monique
Mejia takes off after hitting the ball during the Bruins’
win against University of South Florida on Saturday.
By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Contributor
The top-ranked UCLA softball team’s doubleheader against
UNLV (12-9) on Sunday was cut to one game due to rain, but the rest
of the team’s Easton Classic games provided both reassurance
for the Bruins (26-0) and a cause for concern.
The reassurance came when the Bruins stopped the UNLV Rebels 3-0
behind a no-hit performance from Amanda Freed Sunday, tamed the
South Florida Bulls (12-14) on Saturday 10-0 and halted the
Colorado State Rams (7-10) Friday 11-3. The games against the Bulls
and Rams were two mercy-shortened top halves of doubleheaders.
UCLA’s runs were quietly manufactured in Sunday’s
game, as three players split the RBIs. However, the Bruins missed
opportunities to widen the margin of victory, leaving 10 runners on
base.
One walk separated Freed from a perfect game. It was her first
seven-inning no-hitter at UCLA.
“You just go out there and you try to do it one batter at
a time. If it happens, it happens,” she said.
In Saturday’s opener against South Florida, freshman first
baseman Claire Sua had four RBIs with a first-inning grand slam,
while junior catcher Stacey Nuveman had three RBIs and also cleared
the fence in the fourth inning.
South Florida was blanked by Freed, who allowed just one hit and
one walk with seven strikeouts over the five-inning game.
“It took me an inning to get into it. I wasn’t
completely on top of my game, but it got it done,” Freed
said.
On Friday, the Bruin offense played true to form, with Nuveman
and Sua each hitting round-trippers. Senior pitcher Courtney Dale
got her second win of the year, this time in relief of senior
pitcher Stephanie Swenson. CSU’s three runs were charged to
Swenson.
CSU Head Coach Mary Yori said that her first-game pitcher, Kyla
Kiester, was not in top form. “She’s injured; she
can’t give us a whole lot right now,” Yori said.
Kiester was tagged for eight of the Bruins’ 11 runs. Freshman
reliever Erin Murray was responsible for the final three.
But the cause for concern came when the Bruins continued a trend
of letting the opposition make the game tighter in the second half
of a twinbill.
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA
claimed a 5-3 victory over University of South Florida. USF senior
pitcher Jessi Kowal went all six, allowing UCLA seven hits.
Freshman Keira Goerl went four innings, and senior Courtney Dale
notched her first save of the season, closing out the final three
innings.
Dale hit her second home run of the year while South Florida
freshman Cindy Turek also hit her second. Turek had all three
RBIs.
Friday’s second game, which UCLA took 2-0, turned out to
be a freshman pitchers’ duel. Colorado State’s Megan
Masser gave up only three hits in a complete game outing. Goerl
earned her eighth win, going all seven innings.
UCLA sophomore shortstop Natasha Watley claimed both RBIs with a
two-run home run in the fifth.
Masser was modest about her skill against the potent UCLA
offense. “I just had confidence. I knew that I could do what
I needed to get done,” she said.
Goerl was better, allowing only two hits and giving up one
walk.
The small margins of victory at the Easton Classic unsettled
UCLA Head Coach Sue Enquist.
“They play as though it’s a one-lap race and
it’s a two-lap race,” she said. “When we get to
the Pac-10, we cannot play the way we’ve been playing in the
second game or we are going to get beat a lot.”
Commenting on the Bruins’ level of play in second games,
Enquist said, “I think they stink.”
