UCLA Wins Second Straight Title : Cal State Fullerton’s Season Ends With a 1-0 Loss in Semifinals

Sometimes, it’s difficult to see your accomplishments through a fog of disappointment and there was both mist in the air and mist in the eyes of Cal State Fullerton’s softball players at Seymour Smith Park Sunday.

The top-ranked Titans (54-10) came close to a national championship for the fourth time in six years, but suffered a season-ending loss, 1-0, to UCLA in the semifinals of the NCAA Division 1 Women’s Softball World Series to finish third.

The Bruins (41-9) came right back to score a 2-1 extra-inning victory over Nebraska to silence the 3,180 Cornhusker fans and win their second straight national title.

Judi Garman, Fullerton coach, after requesting 10 minutes to talk to her team, managed to find a bit of perspective. But even she’s having trouble understanding why the touted Titans have two second-place finishes, two thirds and a ninth--and more significantly no national titles--in five years of World Series competition.

“I’m proud of the way we played here,” Garman said. “We have seven new players on this team and no one ever looked at this team and said, ‘They’re clearly the most talented team around.’

“The No. 1 ranking was a pleasant surprise, but we earned it because we play the toughest schedule in the country and we kept winning this year. I wasn’t always sure why or how, but we did . . . until we got here and then we just quit hitting.”

The top five batters in the Titan order, with the exception of No. 3 hitter JoAnn Ferrieri, hit a combined .133 during the double-elimination tournament.

It doesn’t take a lot of hitting to be successful in this sport, however. Just timely hitting. And that’s exactly what the Bruins got in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Titans.

Ferrieri opened the top of the seventh with a single to left, was sacrificed to second and was stranded there as Robin Goodin and Debbie Mygind grounded out.

The Bruins’ Leslie Rover opened the bottom of the inning with a ground-ball single to left, was sacrificed to second and then moved to third when Gina Holmstrom bounced a single to left. Chris Olivie lined the game-winning single to left and the Bruins swarmed onto the field to gang-tackle Olivie.

UCLA, which has lost 19 of its 25 games to the Titans, did not take infield practice because Bruin Coach Sharron Backus didn’t want her players to dwell on the past.

“We’re not exactly intimidated by them, but I was afraid if we watched them warm up, we’d be thinking about them too much, pressing too hard,” she said. “Every time we’ve played them, it’s been a knock-down, drag-out fight. But they seem to win most of them.”

The Bruins, of course, came through when it counted this time.

“It was a great game, a well-played game,” Garman said. “There were no errors and they won it by getting the key hits. We’re 19-6 against them, but they’ve all been close. This was just the wrong time to lose.”

The Bruins got two spectacular defensive plays from center fielder Mary Ricks, who made an over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-plate catch of Maridee Richards’ drive in the second and a diving catch of Val VanKirk’s sinking liner in the sixth.

“That catch on VanKirk’s hit was a real key,” Garman said. “If that ball drops, we have a runner on and the top of our order coming up.”

Susan LeFebvre got the start for the Titans and allowed three hits in 3 innings before giving way to All-American Mygind. Mygind (28-4) has had a spectacular year, but she couldn’t hold back the tears after the Bruins got three hits off her in the sixth.

The Bruins got another fine pitching performance from senior Tracy Compton (20-4), who scattered three hits.

“UCLA is basically a senior team and we’ve got seven kids who have never been here before,” Garman said. “There are some coaches who say you can’t win here unless your team has World Series experience.

“We certainly weren’t thinking that way coming in, but mixed with the disappointment is hope for next year.”