Pacifica Softball Star Freed Chooses UCLA

Pacifica’s Amanda Freed, the state softball player of the year in 1997, has orally committed to attend UCLA.

Freed led Pacifica to the Southern Section Division II title during the spring. She went 20-0 with a 0.23 earned-run average last year, tied a section record with five perfect games among her nine no-hitters. She was also named Times Orange County player of the year. She struck out 263 in 154 innings and batted .362 with 16 runs batted in.

“I’ve heard about UCLA all my life, and it’s close to home,” Freed said. “Going to UCLA has always been a dream, and when everything was just handed to me, what can you say? You just take it and run.”

The other schools she considered were Stanford, Arizona, Washington and Notre Dame.

“Basically, it was always UCLA, but Stanford was a thought in her mind because she was able to go there,” said Karen Freed, Amanda’s mother. “She never would talk much about it because she hated that question, but she’s a UCLA girl. She just fits the mold.”

A three-time Times first-team pitcher who won her first 21 games on the varsity, Freed has a 47-3 career record.