Pitcher Says UCLA Knew Her Plans : Softball: Harding says return to Australia was established before she enrolled. NCAA has no legislation precluding actions.

Tanya Harding, who led UCLA to the NCAA softball title this week, said Friday that Bruin coaches knew she planned to return to Australia before taking her final examinations.

Harding left Westwood two days after the Bruins defeated Arizona, 4-2, for the championship of the Women’s College World Series, and two weeks before spring quarter final exams, leading to questioning of the athletic department’s integrity.

“I made them aware of the date I was arriving and the date I was leaving,” Harding told reporters in her Brisbane, Australia, hometown.

Harding arrived March 22 and played in her first game five days later, the Bruins’ 21st of a 56-game season. She left to join the Australian national team Wednesday before taking finals in her three courses. UCLA officials said Harding planned to take one final and take incomplete grades in two other classes. They also said she would make up the incompletes in July, when the Australian team comes to Los Angeles as part of a summer tour.

Earlier this week, UCLA Co-Coach Sue Enquist told The Times that she was not sure when she learned Harding had no intention of completing her courses. But even if Enquist had known that Harding did not intend to remain through the quarter, that would not constitute an NCAA rule violation.

“It’s one of those things you can’t legislate,” said Kathryn Reich, NCAA spokeswoman. “At some point, you have to trust the people to do the right thing and adhere to the spirit of the rules. When it’s only one term, I’m not sure there is much you could do to ensure the athlete finishes the term.”

Coaches and officials of Softball Australia said this week that Harding was expected to return when the collegiate season ended.

Marie Holden, a spokeswoman with the national team, said, “She could have returned earlier if UCLA didn’t make the playoffs.”

Harding, the most valuable player of the World Series in Oklahoma City, said she was not a hired gun, as some of her American opponents suggested.

Harding (17-1) was 4-0 with an 0.50 earned-run average at the World Series. She also batted .500 in Oklahoma City.

“What I did wasn’t illegal,” she said. “I feel bad in a way because if I’d known it was going to cause this much trouble, I probably wouldn’t have gone in the first place.”

Margaret Reynolds, a former Australian national coach who has known Harding for many years, said the player needed a break.

“At the moment, she was feeling a bit stale here, and she had a few run-ins with a couple people,” Reynolds said. “She just needed some fresh air.”

Harding, who took a three-month leave of absence from her job as a bank teller to come to the United States, said she attended classes while at Westwood but never intended to stay four years to earn a degree.

Harding, 23, had only one season of eligibility because of the NCAA’s age-limit rule. For every year of organized competition after age 20, an athlete loses a season’s eligibility.

Judith Holland, UCLA’s associate athletic director, said the outcry has been frustrating.

“If we hadn’t won the championship, nobody would have said a word,” she said. “That’s how it goes. So she [was] here for a short period of time. I don’t know what the big deal is.”