Bruins Get Unlikely Power Source in 3-2 Victory

On a day the UCLA softball team’s 3-4-5 hitters went one for 10, it was the Nos. 1 and 8 hitters whose late-inning heroics Thursday powered the Bruins to a 3-2 victory over DePaul in the opening game of the Women’s College World Series.

After leadoff hitter Christie Ambrosi tied the score, 1-1, in the bottom of the sixth inning and again, 2-2, in the seventh, Crissy Buck hit only her second home run of the season with one out in the ninth against Liza Brown to give the top-seeded Bruins the win over the eighth-seeded Blue Demons and a second-round date with Fresno State today at 4 p.m. at Porter Hall of Fame Stadium.

“I was just looking for a base hit to start something off,” Buck said. “You always want to hit a home run in that situation but I wasn’t thinking about it. I just connected.”

Held to only two hits by DePaul pitcher Nicole Terpstra through five innings, the Bruins (60-6) trailed, 1-0, entering the bottom of the sixth. But Ambrosi hit an opposite-field home run leading off the inning.

After the Blue Demons (52-13) regained the lead in the top of the seventh, UCLA pitcher Courtney Dale was hit by a pitch leading off the bottom of the inning. Buck popped out to the catcher on a sacrifice attempt, so Coach Sue Enquist had Lupe Brambila bunt Dale to second and put the game in Ambrosi’s hands with no outs to spare.

Ambrosi came through again, singling up the middle to send the game into extra innings.

“I have a lot of confidence in Christie Ambrosi, she’s been a gamer for us all year,” Enquist said. “She’s been a spark for us and adds a nice balance with her clutch hitting.”

But the victory didn’t come without a cost.

In the second, third baseman Julie Adams, most outstanding player at UCLA’s regional last week, suffered a dislocated left shoulder when she was tagged out at second making a head-first slide after tagging up on a pop-up to the catcher. Her status for today’s game is uncertain.

UCLA also struggled defensively and with advancing runners.

Second baseman Lindsay Klein made two errors, one leading to an unearned run in the first, the other coming right before Julie Luna made the score 2-1 with a single in the seventh.

“I was disappointed we were unable to execute the little things,” Enquist said. “By far the most disappointing was the defense.”

UCLA failed to advance runners, popping out rather than hitting the ball on the ground on several occasions. The Bruins stranded seven runners.

But Dale pitched through the ragged play, going the distance with five strikeouts to improve to 32-1, one win short of the school record for victories in a season, held by current assistant coach Lisa Fernandez.

Fresno State 1, Southern Mississippi 0--Amanda Scott pitched a four-hitter and struck out seven to lead the Bulldogs (65-8).

Courtney Blades wasn’t much worse for Southern Mississippi (52-8), giving up only six hits in her complete game. Angela Cervantez’s single in the third inning brought home Fresno State only run, but it was enough for Scott.

Washington 4, Arizona State 1--After 5 1/2 scoreless innings, the third-seeded Huskies scored four unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth to break open their game against the sixth-seeded Sun Devils (41-27).

Erin Helgeland’s two-run double broke the tie, and she scored on Christie Rosenblad’s single.

Jennifer Spediacci pitched the final four innings to get the victory for the Huskies (49-17).

Arizona 3, California 0--Lindsey Collins hit two home runs and Becky Lemke pitched a four-hitter to lead the second-seeded Wildcats past the seventh-seeded Golden Bears (49-21) in the final first-round game.

Collins’ home runs were insurance for Arizona (53-14), which took a 1-0 lead in the third on Toni Mascarenes’ two-out single.

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Today’s Games

All times PDT

* Game 1: UCLA (60-6) vs. Fresno State (65-8), 4 p.m.

* Game 2: Washington (49-17) vs. Arizona (53-14), 6:30 p.m.