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Courtney Dale was hired as a volunteer assistant coach for the UCLA softball team on Tuesday, replacing Lisa Fernandez. Dale played at UCLA from 1998 to 2001 and was named an All-American when she went 33-1 with a 0.98 ERA for the 1999 NCAA champion team. “We are thrilled to have Courtney Dale join our coaching staff,” UCLA coach Sue Enquist said in a statement. “Her dominance in the circle as a player and her technical knowledge as a coach will be a great addition to our program.” Dale finished her career in the circle at UCLA with a 56-5 record. Not only known for her pitching, Dale clubbed 17 home runs in her Bruin career and is among the top 20 in most UCLA career offensive and pitching statistical categories. Since her playing career at UCLA Dale has played professionally in Japan for two years and played with USA Softball’s Elite team in 2003. “(Dale) is an excellent role model and a proven winner in every sense of the word,” Enquist said. Fernandez resigned from the position to pursue several opportunities, including the development of Lisa Fernandez Tournaments, aimed at developing youth softball internationally. Dale joins a coaching staff that won the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s National Coaching Staff of the Year Award two weeks ago.

BRUINS HELP OLYMPIC TEAM GET READY FOR ATHENS: USA softball – which has five former Bruins on its Olympic roster – completed its pre-Olympic schedule with a 53-0 record when it swept a doubleheader from the Stratford Brakettes 14-0 and 8-0 in Stratford, Conn. on Saturday. Bruin alumnae Fernandez and Stacey Nuveman hit home runs in the doubleheader. Former UCLA players Natasha Watley, Amanda Freed and Tairia (Mims) Flowers are also on the team. The doubleheader ended USA Softball’s “Aiming for Athens” tour, in which it traveled across the country to play college, professional, semi-pro and All-Star teams. Team USA will not play again until the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. The first softball games will be played on Aug. 14.

CURRENT BRUINS HELP USA ELITE TEAM: Caitlin Benyi, Lisa Dodd, Andrea Duran, Jodie Legaspi and Emily Zaplatosch are all on the USA Elite team, which is playing in the Champions Cup in Irvine. The USA Elite reached the semifinals with a 4-0 win over Storm USA and will play the winner of Australia and Chinese Taipei. Zaplatosch and Benyi both had RBIs. In their previous international tournament, the USA Elite reached the semifinals of the Canada Cup last week.

BRUIN SIGNEE NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Angelica Selden, who has signed to play with UCLA in 2005, won the Gatorade National Player of the Year Award and was named on to the NFCA High School All-American first team this week. Selden compiled an ERA of 0.03 and won 26 games for Vanden High School last year.