Bruins Repeat Themselves, 1-0 : UCLA Beats Fresno Again in NCAA Softball Final

One year and 52 games didn’t change a thing in NCAA softball.

For the second straight year, UCLA faced Fresno State in the championship game, and once again, UCLA won.

The Bruins’ 1-0 victory gave UCLA its fifth NCAA softball championship--all since 1982. The Bruins previously won in 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1988.

As was the scenario last year, UCLA entered the final day of the double-elimination tournament with a 4-0 record and in need of just one win for the title, while Fresno had a 3-1 mark and needed two wins.

Unlike last year, when the Bruins were forced into a winner-take-all second game by the Bulldogs’ 2-1 win, UCLA (48-4) wrapped up the championship by defeating Fresno (58-14) in the opener.

UCLA scored the game’s lone run in the third inning.

Erica Ziencina beat out a grounder to second to open the inning and Julie Poulos entered the game to run for Ziencina.

She took second on Kerry Dienelt’s sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on Shanna Flynn’s grounder.

Poulos scored when Lorraine Maynez lined a single off the glove of first baseman Kerri Donis.

Maynez, who finished the regular season with a .268 batting average, set a tournament record for hits by getting 10 in 17 at-bats.

UCLA’s Tiffany Boyd (19-2) struck out six, walked one and allowed three hits.

Fresno’s only serious scoring threat came in the first inning, when the Bulldogs had runners on first and third with two out.

Martha Noffsinger singled to left with one out, but was forced at second by Gina LoPiccolo. Donis followed with a single to the gap in right-center, moving LoPiccolo to third.

But Boyd, a freshman, struck out Kathy Mayer to end the threat.

Fresno State had just two baserunners over the final six innings, with Boyd giving up a single in the third and a lead-off walk in the sixth.

Boyd ended the game by getting Mayer, Carrie Dever and Jill Polanco, on first-pitch fly outs.

“In the last inning you could tell they were just swinging for the fence,” Boyd said. “They didn’t make me work at all (that inning).”

UCLA Coach Sharron Backus wanted to wrap things up in the first game. Her concern with winning the first game stemmed from the fact UCLA had been forced into a winner-take-all finale in three of its previous four tournament appearances.

“It’s wonderful, it really is,” Backus said. “They say pressure is self- inflicted, and at times, this team will do that to itself.

“And as it was today, you’re at a loss for words--what to say to them--to help them eliminate that kind of pressure and literally just go out and play and enjoy themselves.”

Dever (27-7), a second-team All-American, took the loss. She struck out one and gave up five hits.

UCLA won two of three meeting against Fresno State in the regular season and leads the series with the Bulldogs, 12-2.