Her Own Act Will Be Hard to Follow

With UCLA’s softball team ready to open NCAA playoff action in defense of the national championship it won last season, the Bruins’ top player can be sure of this: It will be difficult to top the exclamation point put on last season, when she provided one of the most memorable moments in the canon of a vaunted program.

The date: May 26, 2003. The place: ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. The lasting image: Keira Goerl induces Cal’s Haley Woods to fly out in the bottom of the ninth inning to preserve the first no-hitter in NCAA title game history and give UCLA a record 10th national championship.

“I have watched that game over and over,” Goerl said this week as the Bruins (39-9) prepared to play host to an eight-team NCAA regional. “I was in such a good place and so was our team.”

This season has been different from the one that defined the 5-foot-10 senior’s college career. Sharing duties with freshman Lisa Dodd, Goerl hasn’t had to shoulder as much of the pitching load, and her numbers -- a 23-7 record and a 1.16 earned-run average -- aren’t as eye-popping as those she put up a year ago.

But as UCLA opens regional play today at 4:30 p.m. against Mississippi Valley State at Easton Stadium, there is no mistaking who the spotlight will be on as the pressure increases.

“She understands what we need from her, and she just turns it on,” sophomore catcher Emily Zaplatosch said of Goerl. “When we need her most, she delivers for us.”

UCLA Coach Sue Enquist turned to her ace throughout the postseason. Goerl pitched nearly every inning in 10 starts, recording four shutouts and combining with Michelle Turner on a perfect game against Colgate.

In all, the former Moreno Valley Valley View All-American was 40-7, shattering the school single-season record of 33 wins shared by three-time Olympian Lisa Fernandez and Courtney Dale.

“I think what was impressive was she did that after pitching every game for us in the College World Series and doing it after we lost our first game and had to go through the losers’ bracket,” Enquist said. “The pressure just fuels her will.”

Goerl became the school’s all-time career leader in softball wins during the title run, surpassing the best pitchers in Bruin history -- Fernandez, Tracy Compton, Lisa Longaker and Debbie Doom.

With 122 career victories, she ranks fourth on the NCAA career list. On May 2, Goerl became the first Bruin and 25th collegian to surpass 1,000 strikeouts.

“It’s kind of crazy,” Goerl said. “I never thought I would surpass any of those numbers set by the UCLA greats.”

Enquist recalls Goerl emphatically announcing her intentions during a recruiting visit.

“I think she asked me more questions than I asked of her that night,” the coach said. “She would say, ‘I could go to Washington and lift up their program if I wanted to, but I want to go to UCLA. I don’t care how many pitchers are on the staff, I’m going to beat them all out.’ I don’t think I’ve had a player with such confidence, who was so unafraid of anything.”

Disappointment has tinged the achievements, though -- none more difficult than when she was the last player cut at the U.S. Olympic trials in September.

Goerl was a member of the American team that won the gold medal at the Pan American Games, but U.S. Coach Mike Candrea opted to go with right-handed pitcher Jennie Finch and left-hander Cat Osterman alongside Olympic veterans Fernandez and Lori Harrigan.

Facing the U.S. team in an exhibition March 28 and losing, 11-0, added to Goerl’s pain.

“That was rough,” Goerl said. “It’s still hard.... I wish I was playing with them, but you have to move forward.”

Enquist marvels at her pitcher’s ability to push personal setbacks into the background.

“I think she came into this year thinking, ‘How am I going to make this a brand-new experience that will be motivating and fulfilling?’ ” Enquist said. “The thing I told her was, she doesn’t have to do the same thing as in 2003. That in itself can create its own pressure, and to me that’s just extra baggage.”

Now that the games have more meaning -- the Bruins are trying to repeat for the first time since 1989 -- Goerl seems ready for the challenge.

“I think I’m peaking at the right time,” she said. “I know I can get the job done.”