UCLA’s Arledge Shows How the Best Batters May Just Now Be . . . : Hitting Their Stride

This may come as a surprise, but the NCAA’s new magic number in college softball hasn’t cast a wicked spell over the game.

The decision: Move the pitcher’s rubber back from 40 feet to 43 feet. To be sure, the new rule caused some anxiety in certain quarters, particularly from those who were forced to step back on the mound.

But the hitters? They embraced the rule with the same enthusiasm UCLA’s Reggie Miller showed for 19-9.

Three feet in softball adds up to this: The good get better. As for the great hitters . . . start revising those career statistics.

For UCLA outfielder Sandra Arledge, three feet has meant an increase of 85 points in her batting average from last year, acquiring the UCLA single-season RBI record 11 days ago, and striking out only three times in 117 at-bats.

The difference is not limited to Arledge. Bruin Coach Sharron Backus has nine players hitting over .250. Last year, six players accomplished that.

“Definitely it has (made a difference for Arledge),” said Backus, whose team plays a doubleheader at No. 1-ranked Cal State Fullerton at 4 p.m. today. “With great hitters, the average has gone up about 50 points.”

Arledge, a Fountain Valley High School graduate, leads the Bruins with a batting average of .402, with 47 hits and 7 stolen bases.

Last year’s numbers: .317 batting average, 17 RBIs and 40 hits. Not shabby by any means, but Backus realizes that the distance of three more feet answers the questions about Arledge’s performance this year.

Arledge, though, didn’t celebrate wildly when she heard of the rule. What rule?

“You know, I couldn’t notice it,” she said. “If you had told me to come out and look at the mound, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the difference. There could be a variable that is making the difference.

“My confidence is really up this year. That’s a big part of it.”

Arledge, a senior, went to Rancho Santiago College for two years, so this is only her second year at UCLA. Because she didn’t play summer softball, she didn’t receive any scholarship offers out of high school. Coaches from the top softball programs usually recruit players on the basis of their performances on high-caliber summer teams.

Backus spotted Arledge playing shortstop during a community college game and eventually offered her a full scholarship.

However, the player who took the field last year didn’t seem like the same person Backus had scouted the previous season.

“The first time I saw her play, she was a leader on the field and very aggressive and vocal,” Backus said. “Then, here she became very quiet and almost timid. We talked with her after the season about those things.”

It worked. Arledge became a team leader once she felt more comfortable in her new surroundings. She had felt more like a freshman than a junior last year at UCLA.

“It wasn’t easy,” Arledge said. “I didn’t know anybody. And I was living away from home for the first time. It was hard because my family is really close.”

She gets the opportunity to perform in front of her friends and family today. Unlike some, Arledge doesn’t look at Cal State Fullerton with awe.

She knows that anyone, even the Titans (42-3), can be beaten, as their loss to Cal Poly Pomona demonstrated Tuesday.

“I think sometimes people psych themselves out,” she said. “Nobody is going to throw it right past you . . . A coach of mine always said, ‘Respect everyone, but fear no one.’ ”

Anyway, the rivalry between the teams is too intense for the No. 3-ranked Bruins to stay intimidated for long. Last year, UCLA split a doubleheader with Fullerton but dealt the Titans one of their worst defeats of the season (6-0) in the second game. In fact, many of the women play together on teams in summer leagues, which heightens the competition.

Said Arledge, smiling: “It’s a pretty dirty rivalry, I’ve noticed that. Once the game starts, it’s dirt and blood and sweat. And once it’s over, the tension goes away.”