UCLA reigns down in the desert
A weekend sweep of the Arizona schools on the road pulls the Bruins out to a 33-3 overall record
The UCLA women’s softball team just made the Arizona desert a little less dusty.
The No. 3 Bruins swept the weekend set against the Arizona schools to improve to 33-3 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-10.
The No. 2 Wildcats of Arizona and the No. 9 Sun Devils of Arizona State were playing well coming into the weekend and had momentum going into the series with UCLA.
But the Bruins were able to ride their own momentum on the road, defeating the Sun Devils 7-4 on Friday, then the Wildcats 2-1 on Saturday and 8-3 on Sunday.
“I’m very pleased with our consistency on the road,” UCLA coach Sue Enquist said. “To come away with a sweep is impressive. We just did a great job with being strong in all parts of the game, (especially) three days in a row.”
The Bruin power bats were in full force in Friday night’s victory over the Sun Devils. Senior third baseman Andrea Duran led the game off with a solo home run, and hit another home run in the fourth inning.
Sophomore right fielder Krista Colburn and senior catcher Emily Zaplatosch also homered for the Bruins in the game.
With that, the Bruins took a trip to Tuscon, Ariz., to meet with the Wildcats. Despite the Wildcats’ high national ranking, the Bruins weren’t fazed.
“We don’t really look at (the rankings),” said Duran. “We just come in every game to play our own game. They’re always at the top with us.”
Saturday, Duran again plied her lead-off trade, doubling down the third base line. She would score later in the inning on a single by junior shortstop Jodie Legaspi, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
Legaspi herself doubled to lead off the fourth, advanced on a sacrifice bunt by junior pitcher Lisa Dodd, and then scored on a single by junior right fielder Whitney Holum, increasing the lead to 2-0.
The Wildcats responded by breaking up Dodd’s no-hitter in the bottom of the inning.
In the sixth, Dodd (14-1) gave up a home run and a double, prompting Enquist to bring in Friday’s winner, sophomore Anjelica Selden. Selden (19-2) struck out Taryne Mowatt, then remained in the game to earn the first and only Bruin save on the season.
“When (Dodd) and (Selden) can tag team, it works out really well. They really just work well together,” Enquist said.
After showing off their pitching prowess to scrounge runs on Saturday, the Bruins punished the Wildcats’ pitching staff on Sunday.
Duran once again led the game off with a home run. Two batters later, fellow senior second baseman Caitlyn Benyi knocked the ball over the right-center fence, scoring Colburn to make the game 3-0. That set the tone for the Bruins’ offense, which scored eight runs off sophomore pitcher Taryne Mowatt, who sported a 0.65 ERA prior to getting shelled by UCLA.
Enquist had only praise to offer her team for its weekend performance and made sure the players were looking forward.
“This is what I told (the team) about this week: ‘Let our good play inspire us to work harder every day. Don’t be emotionally sloppy or content – we’re still improving and we can still get better.’”

