UCLA had just won its third game in a row to stay undefeated
early in the season.
Softball coach Sue Enquist had just won her 800th game.
But she still wasn’t satisfied.
After the Bruins’ 3-0 win over UC Riverside on Wednesday
at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Enquist wasn’t happy with her
team’s offense.
“I’m disappointed we weren’t more aggressive
at the plate,” she said. “The UC Riverside pitchers
were showing some very consistent tendencies, and we didn’t
jump on them.”
But that’s Enquist: seldom happy after an early season
win, especially a close one against a team that isn’t
considered to be of UCLA’s caliber. While the Bruins are
two-time defending champions and ranked No. 2 in the country, the
Highlanders went 13-50 a year ago and are picked this year to
finish seventh in the Big West Conference out of eight teams.
“We weren’t attacking early in the count,”
Enquist said. “They were throwing a lot of first-pitch
strikes. I want this team to be aggressive early in the count
because of the talent they have.”
UCLA scored all three of its runs in the first inning. After
third baseman Andrea Duran reached on an error to leadoff the
inning, shortstop Jodie Legaspi drove her in with an RBI
single.
Later in the inning, freshman Krista Colburn hit a two-RBI
single, extending her hitting streak to open her UCLA career at
eight hits in eight at-bats. The streak would end at eight however,
as Colburn did not get a hit the rest of the day, finishing
1-for-3.
“We had a good first inning,” Legaspi said.
“There are still a lot of things we need to work on, but I
think we’re off to a good start.”
Those three runs would be all Bruin pitchers Lisa Dodd and
Anjelica Selden would need. Dodd started the game, allowing no runs
in four innings, yielding only one hit and striking out four.
Selden pitched the last three innings, all scoreless, giving up two
hits and striking out six.
“Lisa and (Selden) did a terrific job in the circle for
us,” Legaspi said.
Only two Bruins had multi-hit games ““ Legaspi going
2-for-3 and catcher Emily Zaplatosch who went 3-for-3.
Enquist becomes the 21st coach and 12th active coach to reach
the 800-win mark.
Wednesday’s Bruin home game was played at Bill Barber Park
in Irvine because of renovations going on at UCLA’s Easton
Stadium.
UCLA (3-0) plays next at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament,
which takes place from Friday to Sunday at Mayfair Park in
Lakewood.