COLLEGE SOFTBALL: UCLA WINS 'EM ALL RALLY FROM LOSERS' BRACKET ENDS WITH NCAA TITLE UCLA 1, CAL 0.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer When asked to describe her team before the Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Women's Softball Tournament for college softball in the United States. The tournament is conducted in an eight-team, double-elimination format. , UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' coach Sue Enquist used only one word: resilient. At the time, she was referring to the way the Bruins had come back from a one-run deficit against Michigan State in the semifinals of the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association regional tournament in Fresno that advanced them to the World Series. It turns out there was no need for Enquist to revise her assessment. UCLA won six elimination games and clinched their ninth national championship with a 1-0 victory Monday over California in Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (1990 pop. 444,719), state capital, and seat of Oklahoma co., central Okla., on the North Canadian River; inc. 1890. The state's largest city, it is an important livestock market, a wholesale, distribution, industrial, and financial center, and a farm . ``What will be defining is that we came back from the loser's bracket. Our greatest strength has been our resiliency,'' Enquist said, after UCLA became only the second team in the 23 years of the Women's College World Series to win title after losing its first game, and the first since Texas A&M in 1983. ``We haven't been a team that has gone out there consistently and dominated, but what we have been able to do pick ourselves up after we shoot ourselves in the foot, and that is a huge quality to have.'' Junior Keira Goerl pitched a no-hitter but deflected attention away from her performance and toward the Bruins' four seniors, who would've been the only class in UCLA history not to have won a national title. ``It's not really about me,'' said Goerl, who pitched every inning of UCLA's seven games at the World Series. ``It was about the team and these seniors, and making sure they left with a title.'' Fittingly, it was unheralded senior designated hitter designated hitter n. Baseball Abbr. DH A player designated at the start of a game to bat instead of the pitcher in the lineup. Noun 1. Toria Auelua who came through with her second clutch hit in as many games. Stephanie Ramos doubled off the left-field wall to lead off the ninth inning and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Emily Zaplatosch. It set the stage for an infield single by Auelua that drove in Ramos for the only run of the game. In Sunday's 3-0 victory over Texas, Auelua, a .237 hitter, homered off Cat Osterman Catherine ("Cat") Leigh Osterman (born April 16, 1983) is an American athlete and was one of the pitchers on the USA Women's Softball Team which won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. , the USA Softball National Player of the Year, who left the game after the next batter. The Bruins defeated Texas twice Sunday to advance to the championship game. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: UCLA players hoist the trophy after beating California on Monday in the NCAA championship game. It is the Bruins' ninth national title. Jerry Laizure/Associated Press |
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