UCLA Title Hopes Dashed

It was freshman versus freshman, and Michigan’s Samantha Findlay won the battle against UCLA’s Anjelica Selden, giving the Wolverines their first NCAA softball championship Wednesday night at Oklahoma City.

Findlay knocked in all four Michigan runs, including a game-winning three-run homer in the 10th inning, to lead the top-ranked Wolverines to a 4-1 victory over UCLA in the deciding game of the best-of-three championship round.

Selden, who pitched every inning for the Bruins during World Series play, seemed to tire as the game entered extra innings.

“We rode the arm of an individual, a freshman,” UCLA Coach Sue Enquist said of the Bruins, who were trying to win their third consecutive national title and 11th overall.

“I know you’re impressed with her skill, but if you knew who this person was you would be even more impressed. I couldn’t say enough about my team and what they accomplished.”

Findlay, who also hit a game-tying single in the sixth inning, was named the tournament’s outstanding player.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better team to play for,” Findlay said of the Wolverines, who played their first 33 games on the road because of cold weather in Ann Arbor, Mich. “I would take this team over any individual awards because this team has meant the world to me.”

UCLA (40-20) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Lisa Dodd homered off Jennie Ritter.

Selden shut out Michigan (65-7) until the sixth when the Wolverines loaded the bases with no out. Findlay singled to tie the score, 1-1, but UCLA third baseman Andrea Duran caught a line drive hit by Nicole Motycka and tagged Alessandra Giampaolo, who was wandering off third. Selden then struck out Grace Leutele to end the inning.

“To finally stop the bleeding, really boosted our confidence and it gave us a lot of hope,” Dodd said.

Four innings later, Findlay put an end to that. With Tiffany Haas on second and Alessandra Giampaolo on first, Findlay hit her homer to break a 1-1 tie.

“I tried to keep my head down on the ball because I had been pulling it out earlier,” Findlay said. “I kept my head in and then looked up and saw it go out.”

The home run was the second in two days given up by Selden, who blanked Michigan, 5-0, on Monday but lost, 5-2, on Tuesday.

“Nothing was really harder than any other inning,” Selden said of the 10th. “I just felt like I needed to be more disciplined with my pitching and not give them anything they could hit.”

Ritter, who gave up five hits and struck out four, retired the Bruins in the bottom half of the 10th as the Wolverines became the first team east of the Mississippi River to win the national championship.

*

White reported from Los Angeles.