Softball: Softball brings home first weekend sweep

The UCLA softball team is finally starting to prove why it was
the No. 1-ranked team at the start of the season.

After beating Oregon 2-0 on Friday in Eugene, No. 3 UCLA
traveled to Corvallis to defeat Oregon State by the same score the
following day.

On Sunday, the Bruins capped the weekend by beating the Beavers
again 3-1 after scoring three runs in the top of the seventh
inning. The win gave the Bruins their first undefeated weekend of
the season.

Although Oregon and Oregon State (39-21, 3-12 Pac-10) are both
teams the Bruins should beat and need to beat in order to prove
their worth as a top team in the nation, the Oregon squads are
nationally respected teams with top 20 rankings.

UCLA’s pitching was instrumental in the weekend sweep.
Senior ace Keira Goerl and freshman Lisa Dodd allowed just one run
in three games. Goerl gave up two hits in Friday’s game, and
freshman Dodd threw a one-hit shutout in Saturday’s
contest.

“Both Keira and Dodd did an excellent job,” coach
Sue Enquist said.

“To come from behind and put so many things together at
the end of (Sunday’s) game was just great for the whole team
overall.”

The Bruins also won their first road games of the Pac-10 season,
and now hold a conference record above .500 for the first time this
year (34-7, 7-6 Pac-10).

“It’s always great to win on the road, and to be so
consistent to get three road victories is great for us,”
Enquist said.

“I’m just impressed with our ability to clutch
up.”

On Sunday, clutch hitting was exactly what the Bruins needed.
The only run in six innings was an RBI single by Oregon
State’s Brianne McGowan.

In the top of the seventh, Dodd led off the inning with a
double. Then freshman Whitney Holum was inserted as a pinch hitter
and collected a sacrifice fly to give the Bruins their first run of
the game.

Sophomore Andrea Duran checked in with an RBI single and
sophomore Caitlin Benyi added a sacrifice fly to cap UCLA’s
three-run seventh inning rally, sealing the victory for the
Bruins.

Goerl improved her record to 20-5 after allowing a single run
and collecting her 1,000th career strikeout, an accomplishment
never before reached at UCLA.

“That was pretty exciting,” Goerl said.

“Breaking a record is always a wonderful thing, but to be
the first, you’ll never change that. She’ll always be
the first,” Enquist added.

Defensively, UCLA has been improving every week, and it
continued to excel in Oregon.

“Everyone seemed connected, and in the dugout everyone was
cheering,” Dodd said. “Our energy on the field comes
from the dugout.”

Dodd had an outstanding weekend both in the circle and in the
batter’s box. In addition to her shutout victory on Saturday
and her rally-sparking double Sunday, she collected a solo home run
against Oregon on Friday.

Dodd pointed to a collective team effort as the key to the
weekend sweep.

“I did some good things,” Dodd said.

“But if I didn’t come through, somebody else would
have.”