Softball welcomes freshman players
By Min Kang
Feb. 4, 2009 10:54 p.m.
As a promising new season looms over the horizon, the UCLA softball team will welcome four new members into the fold.
Brooke Finley, Andrea Harrison, Marti Reed and Dani Yudin join a team that advanced to the Women’s College World Series last season but came up short with crushing defeats to Arizona State and Florida. Now the Bruins are eager to make a return to the postseason this year and hope to capture the program’s 12th national championship. Championship aspirations aside, the task at hand for the freshman Bruins seems simple enough.
“I’m asking (the freshman players) to put in their best effort everyday and have a positive attitude,” coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “With that, they will put themselves in the best position to become successful and represent UCLA softball.”
Broken down individually, each of the four freshmen bring multiple assets that can help turn such hopes into reality.
For Finley, her high school resume speaks for itself. The freshman catcher was a two-time team captain and winner of the Most Inspirational award at Del Mar Cathedral Catholic High School, and has taken on that same role with the Bruins. So far, she’s done whatever is asked of her to help the team.
“(Finley) brings great, positive energy to this ball club,” Inouye-Perez said. “She comes to practice and always gives 100 percent. She has become someone that people rely on to help make this team better just by her ability to come and give every day.”
A three-sport athlete at Long Beach Wilson, Reed comes in as one of the Bruins’ most versatile players. Just like her uncanny abilities to play for the softball, volleyball and track and field teams in high school, Reed’s multitalented skills on the softball field affords flexibility to the Bruins’ depth chart.
“Because of Marti’s abilities, I can play her in the infield or the outfield,” Inouye-Perez said. “She is someone who strengthens our depth, and her versatility will play a factor in 2009.”
As for Harrison, her talents at the plate and in the outfield will have an immediate impact on the lineup. The younger sister of sophomore shortstop Monica Harrison, the freshman outfielder arrived to UCLA as one of the top outfield recruits in the country and was named Orange County Register Player of the Year after her senior season at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove.
“The day we signed Andrea Harrison was a great day for the Bruins,” Inouye-Perez said. “She’s a very dynamic and explosive player who is going to be exciting to watch.”
Yudin joins Harrison as the other freshman player who will see immediate playing time. The two-time offensive and defensive player of the year at Las Flores Tesoro High School brings the power that the coaching staff expects to spark the team’s offense.
“Dani is a very powerful hitter who can hit to all fields,” Inouye-Perez said. “She has done a great job of learning the styles of each pitcher and understanding our defensive strategies.”
Despite their freshmen status, the four newest Bruins have had little difficulty adjusting to the team, particularly when the veterans on the team have embraced their younger teammates almost as family.
“Every single person on this team gets along with each other,” Finley said. “Our teammates have really embraced us like sisters. It’s just a great experience.”
It also helps that the freshmen have already bought into one of the team’s founding philosophies regarding age distinction.
“It doesn’t matter what year you’re in,” Yudin said. “The game doesn’t know how old you are. We just go out there and play with our best effort and with the right attitude.”
Be that as it may, off the field and on the college campus, the transition hasn’t been quite as smooth.
Having completed their first quarter at UCLA, the players can now appreciate the big fuss made over college finals.
“It’s a different learning style here,” Reed said. “It’s tougher in that the grade is based largely on one or two tests. It’s not easy, but after a while, you get used to it.”
Nonetheless, the joy of playing for the Bruins hasn’t been lost.
“When we first put on the uniforms, I thought to myself, “˜Wow, we look pretty good,'” Harrison said. “To finally put that jersey on means a lot. It’s a dream come true.”
