NCAA SOFTBALL: THIS FINISH IS EASY FOR THE BRUINS UCLA ELIMINATES SOUTH FLORIDA AND GETS WCWS BERTH.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 Well, that was quick. Last season, 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 to win five elimination games just to make 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. . This year, it hardly had to break a sweat in its 3-1 victory Sunday over South Florida. ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network had barely started its broadcast by the time UCLA senior thirdbaseman Andrea Duran blasted the first pitch of the game from South Florida starter Cristi Ecks over the center-field fence to stake the Bruins to an early lead. Duran's 13th home run of the season pretty much squelched squelch v. squelched, squelch·ing, squelch·es v.tr. 1. To crush by or as if by trampling; squash. 2. whatever drama South Florida hoped to create in Game 2 of the best-of-three NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Super Regional tournament Sunday afternoon at Easton Stadium. The Bruins went on to victory and advanced to their 23rd Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. Top-seeded UCLA (48-7) opens WCWS WCWS Women's College World Series (softball) WCWS Window Circulating Water System play Thursday night against No.8-seed Tennessee (58-10). Earlier Sunday, Tennessee ousted defending national champion Michigan in the third game of the Knoxville (Tenn.) Super Regional. No. 2 Arizona, No. 7 Oregon State, No. 6 Arizona State, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Northwestern and No. 5 Alabama also advanced to the WCWS. ``It's just an interesting dynamic when the first pitch (is hit for a home run),'' UCLA coach Sue Enquist said. ``That hit was indicative of what Duran has done for our club all year. She's a leader, and she sets the tone for us.'' Duran, the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year, also got the Bruins going in the fifth inning when she lined a triple off the right-field fence and scored two batters later on a single to right by Caitlin Benyi. Benyi then stole second and scored on a triple to left by junior shortstop Jodie Legaspi. That was plenty of support for UCLA sophomore right-hander Anjelica Selden (33-5), who gave up five hits and struck out 10 in a complete-game effort. ``I feel like I'll probably be more relaxed (at the WCWS) because of the experience from last year, especially with last year being such a fight for us,'' Selden said. ``I'm looking forward to this year because we're all relaxed and have this quiet confidence.'' About the only downer down·er n. A depressant or sedative drug, such as a barbiturate or tranquilizer. for UCLA on Sunday came in the bottom of the seventh, in which South Florida scored a run off Selden, snapping her scoreless-innings streak at 28 2/3 innings. During the postseason, UCLA has outscored its five opponents 28-3. Duran and Legaspi both finished 2for3 with 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 . ``It means everything. I just want to end on a good note,'' Duran said of qualifying for the WCWS. ``Our team is one of those teams that we know not to make it bigger than it already is. A lot of us have experienced that now, so we're going to go in there calm.'' ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3617 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Members of the UCLA softball team celebrate their 3-1 victory over South Florida in the NCAA Super Regionals at Easton Stadium. (2) UCLA's Andrea Duran hits a fifth-inning triple. Duran also homered on the game's first pitch. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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