Thursday, January 8th, 2009

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<p>Pitcher and first baseman Lisa Dodd hit two home runs and got
her fifth win this season.</p>

Pitcher and first baseman Lisa Dodd hit two home runs and got her fifth win this season.

Bruin bats come alive at Palm Springs

On Friday, the UCLA softball team headed into the Palm Springs Classic with an 8-1 record, the sole loss coming two weeks ago in a close contest against Long Beach State. The team’s offense appeared dampened after the loss, as they scored just five runs in the next three games.

This weekend, however, the No. 3 Bruins hit five home runs and scored 18 times to sweep their five games in Palm Springs and improve to 13-1 on the year. The run support and constant pressure the Bruins applied to other teams was a great combination in coach Sue Enquist’s eyes.

“The main positive offensively was that we were ahead of roughly every team,” she said. “That translated into us competing every inning, and that led to us being patient for the runs. All the teams were extremely competitive.”

The competition and the tournament, was long and fierce. On Friday, the Bruins took down the Ohio State Buckeyes 4-1 and the 19 ranked LSU Tigers 3-1. On Saturday, they defeated Kansas 4-3 and No. 8 Texas A&M 5-0.

The tournament ended on Sunday, when the Bruins took on 10th-ranked Oklahoma. The Bruins won 2-0, overcoming a superb pitching performance by the Sooners senior pitcher Nicole Denes, who was perfect for four-and-a-third innings.

“It was the most emotionally charged game of the weekend,” Enquist said of the game against Oklahoma. “I liked how we turned it around and forced their defense to make plays.”

Denes’ perfect game was disrupted by senior shortstop Jodie Legaspi’s one-out double in the bottom of the fifth. The Sooners responded with a threat of their own in the top of the sixth, but sophomore pitcher Angelica Selden was able to put away the threat. The Bruins scored the next inning when sophomore right fielder Krista Colburn drove in junior left fielder Ashley Herrera from third.

“(Selden) was fabulous this weekend. She’s just really talented and a really good pitcher,” junior pitcher/first baseman Lisa Dodd said, of Selden’s four-win performance over the weekend. “It went really well for both of us.”

Dodd wasn’t too shabby either. She notched a victory against the LSU Tigers on Friday on the mound and then helped beat Texas A&M with the bat on Saturday, going 3-for-3 with a double and two home runs.

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