SPORTSCOPE : UCLA Women Seek a Softball Three-Peat

The UCLA women’s softball team (57-6) is aiming for its third consecutive NCAA championship in the College World Series, which runs through Sunday at Oklahoma City.

The Bruins, who swept Northern Iowa, 2-0 and 4-0, in last week’s Northwest Regional at UCLA, were scheduled to play Kent State (43-7) Wednesday in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament.

Other teams in the series are Nevada Las Vegas, Cal State Long Beach, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Florida State and Fresno State.

Against Northern Iowa, pitchers Lisa Longaker, a senior, and Heather Compton, a freshman, threw one-hit games. Longaker (19-1) struck out a season-high 13 batters and had a perfect game until she gave up a double in the seventh inning of the first game. Compton’s bid for a perfect game was spoiled by a walk and a single in the fifth inning of the second game.

In the two games, UCLA junior outfielder Shanna Flynn was 4 for 4, and teammate Kelly Inouye, a sophomore designated hitter, was 4 for 6 with two runs batted in.

Entering the NCAAs, UCLA had won five consecutive games and 27 of 28. Sophomore outfielder Yvonne Gutierrez was leading the Bruins with a .391 average, and freshman utility player Lisa Fernandez was hitting .311.

Some members of the UCLA men’s and women’s track teams will be trying to qualify for the NCAA championships in various meets this weekend. The NCAA meet will be held Wednesday through June 3 at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

At Seattle last week, the Bruin women won their fourth consecutive Pacific 10 Conference title, defeating Oregon, 116-103. But the injury-ridden UCLA men, three-time defending conference champions, finished third with 98 points. Oregon won with 141 points and Washington State had 102.

Tracie Millett and Janeene Vickers were double winners at Seattle. Millett set school records of 190 feet, 2 inches in the discus and 53-9 3/4 in the shot put. Vickers won the 100-meter hurdles in 13.36 seconds and the 400 hurdles in 58.28.

For the Bruin men, Steve Lewis came back from a hamstring injury to win his second consecutive conference title with a 46.10 in the 400-meter run, and Brian Blutreich won his second consecutive Pac-10 discus title with a throw of 188-10.

The UCLA women’s golf team, ranked seventh nationally, is competing in the NCAA tournament, which ends Saturday at Hilton Head, S.C. The Bruins are led by sixth-ranked Jean Zedlitz, a winner of two tournaments this season.

The Bruin men’s golf team is competing in an NCAA regional through Saturday at Las Cruces, N.M.

The Pepperdine baseball team finished second behind Loyola Marymount in the West Coast Conference but failed to receive a bid to the NCAA Division I championship for the first time since 1984.

The Waves (37-23 and 24-12 in league play) won two of three games last weekend from Loyola (45-15, 25-9) but finished two games back of the Lions.

Pepperdine senior Kipp Landis was named conference player of the week after he pitched 11 2/3 scoreless innings in the Loyola series.

The Palisades High boys and girls swim teams continued their dominance in the Los Angeles City championships. The boys won their fifth consecutive title and the girls won their eighth in nine years.

Tim Gair was a double winner for the Palisades boys, taking the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly.

In both the boys and girls meets, Birmingham finished second and Venice was third.