Bruins, Wildcats contend for college world series

By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter

Tell the trophy engraver to get to work. Make one nameplate that
says UCLA, one that says Arizona.

It should save some time in Oklahoma City in a couple weeks,
since one of those two teams is probably going to win the 2001
softball Women’s College World Series.

Powerhouses like UCLA and Arizona have a wealth of tradition to
build on; and it’s that tradition that’s probably their
best inducement to get recruits to come there.

But what do you do if your school has never won WCWS in its
history?

The Bruins got to see four Pac-10 schools in the past two weeks.
Two weekends ago, UCLA took all three games from Cal and Stanford,
whose programs have risen to national contention.

Last weekend, the Bruins swept the Oregon schools: teams just
trying to compete in the top softball conference in the nation.

But the fact remains that none of the foursome has won an NCAA
title in softball, and their programs’ mission is incomplete
until they find a way to capture one.

Start with the other UC school: Cal. Coach Diane
Ninemire’s squad consists of six Southern California natives
out of 15 players. Starting in 1986 the Bears have made it to the
WCWS five times, but have never claimed a title.

“Cal is a great place that can offer the best of both
worlds,” Ninemire said. “Academically, it’s the
number one institution in the world, and the program is coming up
and up and up each and every game.”

While Ninemire’s contention about Cal’s academic
prowess relative to an entire world of universities is up for
debate, the UC system is widely regarded as one of the best public
university systems in the world.

And softball’s recent history is a bit kinder to Cal, as
the Bears have been to the last two WCWS and are currently No. 5 in
the nation.

But across the San Francisco Bay there is an institution whose
softball program went from being beaten by a total of 70-0 in four
games against UCLA in 1993 to now being No. 3 in the nation.

“We’re not going after the same players,”
Ninemire said of Stanford. “Their standards are probably the
hardest in the Pac-10 as far as getting in. I know players who have
1270s (on their SATs) who are getting accepted into Princeton who
are not getting accepted into Stanford.”

There are plenty of UCLA students who could say a thing or two
about trying to get into Stanford. Though Cal is known as a fine
academic institution, Ninemire acknowledges that its starting nine
need not be Rhodes Scholars.

“(Cal’s academic tutoring program) has allowed us to
bring in players that probably normally would not get accepted into
Berkeley if they weren’t an athlete,” she said.
“We’re not going to jeopardize our academic reputation
just for the betterment of athletics, but we do make
exceptions.”

Meanwhile on The Farm, Cardinal Head Coach John Rittman said
that Stanford’s academic requirements actually help him in
his recruiting process.

“It makes recruiting easier in the sense that you
eliminate about 75 percent of the kids playing out there because
about 25 percent have the academics that you’re looking
for,” he said.

One may think that athletes may not have the time nor interest
to do well in class, but Rittman said that it is possible to do
both academics and athletics.

“When you have that good of academics, that means
you’re pretty goal-oriented. You have the things necessary to
be successful and when you’re recruiting out of that pool of
talent, the success in the classroom carries over to the playing
field,” he said.

But Stanford has a lack-of-tradition problem that is more severe
than Cal. The Cardinal has never been to the WCWS.

“It’s a tough sell because we don’t have a lot
of tradition right now but we’re building it,” Rittman
said. “You’re the pioneer of the program instead of
coming into a program with lots of tradition.”

The Oregon schools, who the Bruins swept over the weekend, post
respectable results nationally but have only crept into the final
eight at the WCWS once between them.

The Oregon Ducks were guided to the WCWS in 1989 by current
Washington Head Coach Teresa Wilson, but coach and team have not
taken the same path since. While Wilson has led the Huskies to five
straight WCWS, Oregon hasn’t returned to the final eight.

While trying to change that history for the better, Ducks Coach
Rick Gamez says that competition against teams like UCLA and
Arizona, both on the field and for recruits, helps his program.

“You have to go after those kids; otherwise you’ll
never know if you can get them or not,” he said. “The
Pac-10 is the best conference in the country. I think that’s
a huge selling point, being able to play against teams like UCLA,
Arizona, Washington, and Stanford.”

Though Oregon’s rivals, the Oregon State Beavers, have not
yet made the final eight, their No. 14 ranking and the recent
turnaround of the program by Head Coach Kirk Walker suggest that
things may be looking up in Corvallis. Like Gamez, Walker says that
competition with the best is what draws recruits to schools, even
if they’re not favored to win the conference.

“You want to compete against the best and that’s why
you want to be in the Pac-10. It’s preparation for
postseason,” Walker said. “You could go to a weaker
conference and be a conference champion and no one’s very
impressed.”

But some top softball players want to go right into the programs
with more of a history than Oregon State, something that
hasn’t helped the Beavers’ cause.

“We’ve probably gone head-to-head with every Pac-10
school at some point within the last three or four years (for) a
recruit. We’ve come out on top with some and fallen short
with some others,” he said.

UCLA or Arizona may win the WCWS title this year, adding to an
already storied list of accomplishments at either school. But it
was only in 1988 that the Wildcats made their first WCWS appearance
before claiming a title three years later.

It could happen again. Just last year, Oklahoma won its first
NCAA softball title. It was a big upset, too. The team on the other
end of that 3-1 final? UCLA.