Bruins Try to Four-Peat in Softball

The top-ranked UCLA women’s softball team (52-5), three-time defending NCAA champion, is competing in the NCAA World Series, which ends Sunday with the championship game at Oklahoma City.

Other teams in the field are No. 2 Fresno State, No. 5 Nevada Las Vegas, No. 7 Arizona, No. 11 Missouri, No. 12 Florida State, No. 18 Cal State Long Beach and Utah.

Last week the Bruins won the Pacific Regional by defeating Central Michigan, 4-0 and 5-0. In the first game, Heather Compton pitched a perfect game for her 16th shutout. Lisa Fernandez pitched her 16th shutout in the second game, striking out 11.

The No. 13 Pepperdine baseball team (41-15-1) will meet No. 16 Creighton (45-20) in the first round of the NCAA West I Regional at 7:30 p.m. Friday at USC’s Dedeaux Field.

The regional continues with Saturday games at 11 a.m., 3:15 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday games at noon, 4 and 8 p.m. A regional championship game will start at 1 p.m. Monday and will be followed by a second game, if necessary.

The first through sixth seeds in the West I Regional are USC, Hawaii, Pepperdine, Creighton, Minnesota and Middle Tennessee State.

Last week the Waves won one of three games from Loyola Marymount to clinch the West Coast Conference championship, edging the second-place Lions by a half-game. Steve Duda (11-2) was the winning pitcher in Pepperdine’s 3-1 victory over the Lions and Steve Montgomery (9-1) earned his fourth save.

Pepperdine has lost five of its past seven games and Wave Coach Andy Lopez said there is “no doubt we played a bit tight as a team down the stretch. However, we got the job done with a team (composed) almost entirely of underclassmen, and that is a significant accomplishment.”

The UCLA women’s and men’s crews will compete June 7-8 in the National Collegiate Rowing Championship at East Fork Lake in Cincinnati.

At last week’s Pacific Coast Championship at Lake Natoma near Sacramento, the Bruin women won their second consecutive title and set a course record of 6 minutes 44.4 seconds over 2,000 meters. In the men’s race, UCLA finished second to Washington for the second year in a row.

Santa Monica College tennis player Jean-Bernard Keen won the state community college singles championship on Saturday at Chabot College in Hayward. He defeated Lennart Eilestam of West Valley College, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Keen and partner Antonio Robertson advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles. Saddleback finished first in the team standings, and SMC was second.

The No. 3 UCLA women’s golf team is competing in the NCAA championships, which end Sunday at Ohio State University.

The Bruin men will play today through Saturday in the NCAA West Regional at Albuquerque, N.M. The NCAA final will be June 6-9 at Carmel.