UCLA Has New Role in Softball

Going into each season, UCLA is a favorite to win the NCAA softball championship. Winning nine national titles will get you that respect.

With All-American catcher Stacey Nuveman returning from the Olympics to a Bruin team that played in the NCAA title game last season, UCLA won 55 of 60 games this season and has been ranked no lower than second.

However, as eight regional tournaments open this week, the Bruins are no longer the favorites to win the national championship.

Five-time champion Arizona has taken over that role after winning the Pacific 10 championship by three games over UCLA.

The Bruins will host one of the regionals, beginning play today against Coastal Carolina. Cal State Northridge plays San Diego State and Wisconsin faces Fresno State in other first-round games.

Nuveman has resumed her dominance at the college level after helping lead the United States to the gold medal in Sydney.

Monday, the junior power hitter was selected Pac-10 player of the year for batting .450 with 17 home runs, 69 runs batted in and 63 walks.

UCLA is batting .340 as a team with 56 home runs. Sophomore Tairia Mims (15 homers, 66 RBIs, .371 average) is having a breakout season.

But the Bruins aren’t all about power. Sophomore shortstop Natasha Watley, batting .425 with 46 stolen bases in 50 attempts, is one of the nation’s most dynamic players and earlier set a conference record with a 32-game hitting streak.

UCLA also has received a big boost from two freshmen, pitcher Keira Goerl and infielder Claire Sua. Goerl, from Moreno Valley Valley View High, is 25-2 with a 1.22 earned-run average and has complemented last year’s lead pitcher, Amanda Freed.

Sua, the younger sister of four-time NCAA discus champion Seilala Sua, is another offensive threat in the lineup with eight home runs and 48 RBIs.

Local tennis programs will have a major presence at the 16-team NCAA championships as the USC and UCLA men’s and women’s teams qualified with victories in the opening two rounds last weekend. Pepperdine also advanced in the men’s tournament with two wins.

In the men’s tournament Saturday at Athens, Ga., USC (15-8) will play Texas Christian after defeating Virginia and Mississippi.

UCLA (22-2), seeded second, will play Washington after blowing out Sacramento State and South Florida in opening-round matches. After defeating Western Michigan and Indiana State, Pepperdine (19-7) gets top-seeded and defending champion Stanford.

The UCLA women have been the most surprising team. Coming into the tournament with only a 7-17 overall record, the injury-plagued Bruins edged Georgia Tech, 4-3, Saturday and stunned host and No. 12-ranked Fresno State, 4-3, on Sunday.

The Bulldogs had defeated the Bruins, 5-2, during the regular season.

UCLA faces Vanderbilt in a third-round match today at Stone Mountain, Ga., while USC (19-7) plays Northwestern.

USC and UCLA qualified for the NCAA women’s golf championships May 23 at Orlando, Fla. The Bruins finished third at the NCAA West Regionals behind Laura Moffat’s sixth-place performance and Leilani Bagby’s final-round 71 that led to an 11th-place finish. Despite their struggles, the Trojans were the eighth and final team to qualify, with Mikaela Parmlid’s 10-over-par 226 leading the way.

College Division

Singles victories by Blair Rubenstein, Leshya Wig and Jirika Peterson sparked the Pomona-Pitzer women’s tennis team to a 6-3 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, earning the Sagehens (15-5) a berth in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals at Trinity University in San Antonio.