Bruins Good, but Are They Great? : Women’s Softball Coach, Winner of Four National Titles, Is Sure TheyHave Talent, but She’s Not So Certain About the Team’s Killer Instinct

Sharron Backus, coach of the No. 1-ranked UCLA women’s softball team, has led four teams to national championships in 10 years. She knows what it takes.

And UCLA doesn’t have it this season, she says.

“This is a good team and they’re talented,” said Backus after Sunday’s disappointing home double-header split with Oregon, 1-0, 0-2. “But I don’t think we have the heart to be champion.”

Backus wonders whether the killer instinct of her players has been softened by the generosity of the school.

“The more (the players) get scholarship-wise,” she said, “the more the appreciation of the game is secondary.

“They’re taking this ‘the coaches owe that to us and we can come out here and play any way we want and win’ attitude.”

Despite starting five freshmen, UCLA, 19-3, 5-1 in Pac 10, is a stronghold of collegiate softball talent. And most teams would agree that 19 wins is nothing to scoff at. The growing team apathy is what scares coaches, players and fans.

“When you have outstanding pitching, it creates and supports an attitude of complacency,” Backus said. “None of these players is awed with winning.

“They’re too cocky, knowing they can turn it on or off whenever they want to.”

Sophomore pitcher Lisa Longaker, who in 1987 was UCLA’s first freshman 20-game winner ever, has no problem turning on her skill and turning away batters. Longaker (9-1), 1987 Co-Pac-10 player of the year, threw a no-hitter in Sunday’s first game and lowered her earned run average to 0.09. She has pitched 56 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run.

Behind Longaker is junior Samantha Ford, 8-2, who was frustrated Sunday by the team’s offensive impotence and lack of intensity and called a postgame meeting.

“I’ve had it,” said Ford in reference to players who remained quiet on the bench. “I said, ‘If it’s going to take my walking by and kicking you guys in the butt every inning, I’ll do it because I don’t care if you hate me--I want to win that bad.’ ”

Backus, in her 13th season as head coach, said that in years past it was easier to inspire players.

But this year the team has been haunted by its top ranking.

“With No. 1 comes a responsibility to play with intensity every game,” Backus said. “Oregon beat us one game and they react like they’re world champion.

“When we let a team beat us or play us close, that team is going to think they’re great. A lot of times they aren’t--they’re just average.”

But Oregon Coach Teresa Wilson said her team’s performance was anything but average.

“It seems to take us a game to warm up, but the second games have been ours,” said Wilson, who spoke over her players’ victory cheers. “We’ve got to find an answer to why we don’t play well the first game and we’ll be dangerous.”

Bruin Janice Parks, who hit .354 last season, makes pitchers feel endangered each time she steps up to the plate, if only by the sheer volume of her home crowd’s support.

In UCLA’s first game against UC Santa Barbara this year, Parks won it with a grand slam. But to hear her modestly tell it, she hit little more than a bloop single.

“A hit’s a hit and that scored some runs,” said Parks, who plays third base. “It was a relief and I thought, ‘Now I finally got a hit and I can go on with the rest of the season.’ ”

Parks, 20, uses her role of offensive leader to inspire younger teammates such as freshman Shanna Flynn.

Flynn, who homered on her first collegiate at-bat but has since cooled, learned about team commitment when she stayed out late the night before a game.

“We won, but I didn’t do anything to help the team,” Flynn said. “I was tired and drained and thought, ‘Oh well, the team will do it for me--and they did--but it can’t work like that.’ ”

Backus said the team has to get back on course--it’s out of her hands.

“The frustration is unbelievable, but you can’t whip them,” Backus said. “I try to stay positive, but I get sick of being positive because they don’t respond.”