NCAA SOFTBALL: BRUINS CORRAL BULLS' BATS SELDEN SHUTS DOWN SOUTH FLORIDA IN GAME 1 UCLA 2, SOUTH FLORIDA 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 You could feel the momentum shifting. What looked like another easy victory for the 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 team had turned messy in a hurry. After going quietly at the plate for the first five innings, South Florida loaded the bases with no outs in top of the sixth inning on a hit, a walk and a hit batter. The Bulls sent their top hitter, Krista Holle, to the plate. But as she has so often in her short but illustrious career, UCLA pitcher Angelica Selden turned up the heat when it mattered most, inducing Holle to hit into a 5-2-3 double-play to stifle the threat. In the bottom half of the inning, UCLA junior Lisa Dodd added another body blow, sending an inside pitch from USF USF University of South Florida USF Universal Service Fund (often part of phone bill in US) USF University of San Francisco USF University of Sioux Falls USF University of St. starter Bree Spence high over the left-field fence and sending UCLA to a 2-0 victory Saturday afternoon in the first game of the best-of-three NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Super Regional at Easton Stadium. ``We kind of stole their momentum the inning before,'' said Dodd, who was 2 for 3 on Saturday. ``Then we came back in and got two quick outs. We just needed to get something on our side. I think scoring later in the game, right before the last inning, was a big lift for us.'' The teams will play again today at noon. USF needs to win to force a third game at 3 p.m. The winner of the Super Regional advances to 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. on Thursday 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 . South Florida (50-24) is making its first Super Regional appearance, but the Bulls didn't seem intimidated by UCLA's 11 national championship banners. ``I don't look at this as a learning experience,'' USF senior Samantha Ray said. ``I'm a senior, it's a little different for me. Throughout my four years, we've faced the toughest competition in the country, so from the first inning, the first at-bat, we came in thinking we could win.'' Spence pitched well enough for the Bulls to win, but USF left seven runners on base. ``We just have to do a better job (today) of executing and taking advantage of those type of situations,'' said USF coach Ken Eriksen, who was an assistant on the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. national team at the Summer Olympics in 2004. ``In all honesty, I thought both pitchers did a great job and made great pitches in crucial situations.'' Top-ranked UCLA (47-7) put pressure on the Bulls with a run in the first inning on an RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in single by senior catcher Emily Zaplatosch. Selden gave up five hits and struck out nine batters. ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3617 |
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