By Greg Lewis
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
UCLA didn’t used to play like this. They were the last
team in the world anyone would have expected to break two NCAA
stolen base records in one game.
Thursday afternoon’s 8-0 defeat of Canisius in the first
round of the NCAA Regionals was official notice to the rest of the
softball world that the Bruins can now run with the best of them.
First Lyndsey Klein stole her third base in the fourth inning,
tying the NCAA tournament record. Then, with their eighth, ninth
and tenth steals, UCLA broke the post-season record of seven in a
game, topped off by freshman Natasha Watley’s fourth steal of
the game. That broke the individual record.
Historically UCLA has been dominant in pitching and power
hitting with a relatively conservative approach on the basepaths.
Christie Ambrosi held the UCLA career record with a mere 31 steals.
Arizona’s Lauren Bauer got 43 in 1999 alone.
But Bruin head coach Sue Enquist warned the opposition at the
beginning of the season. “We’re going to run a lot more
this year,” she said. “When you’ve got the
horses, go ahead and be aggressive.”
True to Enquist’s word, UCLA has stolen 94 bases this
year, up 47 percent from last year’s school record of 64.
Watley is the leader of UCLA’s speed brigade. In just her
first season, the fastest Bruin softball player ever has already
broken Ambrosi’s single-season and career steals record with
32 and the World Series still to go.
But as Enquist is quick to point out, Watley isn’t the
only cog in the Bruins’ speed machine, but she is the
fastest. Amanda Freed, Lupe Brambila and Lyndsey Klein all finished
with double-digit swipes on the season. A slap hitter at
Irvine’s Woodbridge High, Watley was converted to a stand-up
hitter as soon as she got here.
“Now teams can’t just play in on her,” Enquist
said. “They have to think about where she can hit
it.”
Batting .434, Watley is leading the team in average, the first
freshman to do so since 2000 Olympian Stacey Nuveman. With Nuveman,
as well as fellow Olympian Christie Ambrosi, gone (Nuveman is
redshirting the year and will return in 2001), the Bruins lose 185
hits, 41 home runs and 139 RBIs from their lineup, as well as the
protection Nuveman provided in the lineup for sluggers Julie Adams
and Julie Marshall.
Speed was necessary to make up the difference. “The speed
helps us score runs. If we didn’t have the quickness we do,
it would take a lot more base hits,” Watley said.
For the opposition, the scary thing is that Watley keeps getting
better as the season gets longer.
“As the season goes on, I realize I can get it done, and
that’s a confidence builder,” Watley said. She ended
the regular season as the Pac-10’s final Player of the Week
and raised her season batting average seven points in just four
postseason games. She has also been improving each day at
shortstop, routinely making tough plays while getting rid of the
errors that popped up early in the season.
Before the playoffs began, Watley seemed nervous and a tad
unsure, but once the first game got underway, the jitters left.
“Confidence is the biggest thing for me,” she said.
“Once I got going, I knew I could do it, so I was
comfortable.”
Judging from the past year, Watley had no reason to be nervous.
Last summer she was the youngest player in the final round of
Olympic trials and had no problems there.
“It’s like nobody knew she was the youngest player
there, she was so versatile and so fast. She impressed
everyone,” Ambrosi said.
Watley was pleased with the experience she got at Olympic
trials.
“I may not have not made the team this year, but next
time, I’ll be ahead of everybody who will be there for their
first time,” Watley said.
If Watley keeps up her pace, she won’t need to wait for
the next Olympics to make a name for herself in the softball
world.