RIDING A TITLE WAVE ENQUIST LEADS UCLA'S CHAMPIONSHIP SOFTBALL PROGRAM.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne Staff Writer

HUNTINGTON BEACH - By 7 a.m. on a gray and windy Monday at Bolsa Chica State Beach, even most of the hardcore surfers have headed off to work or back to bed.

Among the 10 devotees left to brave the effects of a late-spring storm, there is one woman.

After about 15 minutes of catching waves that prove disappointing, she chooses the best wave of the morning and rides it like a professional all the way in to shore.

Her name is Sue Enquist, and she is one of the most successful college softball coaches in history. No one in the water has any idea.

``Oh gosh, no. Nobody knows,'' said Enquist, who is leading UCLA in its quest for a third consecutive national championship. The Bruins play Georgia in a best-of-3 NCAA Super Regional at UCLA's Easton Stadium, beginning Friday at 6 p.m.

``But then again, I don't know who's the president of the bank over there, or who's running a $4.5 million account, either. I don't want to be talking softball at 6 or 7 in the morning.''

This is the place where Enquist escapes. Here, she's Sue, surfer girl from San Clemente. There will be time the rest of the day to think about softball. What she does for those few hours every morning at the beach grounds her.

For 30 years, she has helped keep UCLA at the top of the sport, as either a player or coach. She was UCLA's first scholarship player, its first All-American and is now a legendary coach at the school.

Of all of UCLA's championship runs, this year's might be the most difficult. The Bruins lost 2-1 in 11 innings Saturday to Cal State Fullerton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and were one game from elimination. Enquist made sure her team didn't panic.

UCLA came back to win three elimination games to advance to the Super Regionals.

``I've known Sue for many years,'' said legendary UCLA men's basketball coach John Wooden, her mentor and friend. ``She's an outstanding teacher of the game. ... I think of her as a teacher - that's what coaches are. That's what I considered myself; it just happened to be a teacher of basketball. Sue is a teacher of softball.''

Like any good teacher, Enquist always is looking for new ways to reach her players. This year, she changed her approach to hitting, teaming with University of Arizona and U.S. national team coach Mike Candrea and former major-league baseball player Don Slaught on a new set of instructional videos and software.

``The game has changed so much, but she's changed with it,'' said UCLA junior catcher Emily Zaplatosch. ``I guarantee she coaches differently now than she did in 1990.''

These days, many softball players take private lessons almost as soon as they can walk. They come to college quoting sports psychology books.

It's a different game than it was in 1975, when Enquist arrived in Westwood as a player. Back then, UCLA was awful. It lost to junior colleges. The players brought their own gloves and spikes to games.

Within three years, Enquist helped UCLA win its first national title, an AIAW crown. She won four NCAA titles as an assistant coach from 1980 to 1988, three titles as a co-head coach with Sharron Backus from 1989 to 1996, and three more since becoming the sole head coach in 1997.

Enquist's critics insist UCLA wins because it gets the best players, that UCLA's tradition almost is an unfair recruiting tool.

Imagine telling a recruit that every class of players to have come through your program has won a national championship.

``There are some people that think, `If I had all that talent, I'd win five national titles in a row,''' longtime UCLA assistant Gina Vecchione said. ``But you have to be able do something with that talent. ... Those people don't know what that's like. They're not in the bubble.''

Enquist, 47, prefers to shield her team from the pressure that comes with coaching the most storied program in college softball - UCLA's 11 national titles (10 NCAA, one AIAW) are the most in college softball history, almost double that of Arizona, which is second on the list with six.

Instead of asking her players for national championships, Enquist demands only 100 percent effort, a positive attitude and accountability.

``These things sound so simple, but the most simple principles in life are the most difficult to comply with,'' she said.

The formula has worked. Enquist's .836 winning percentage is the highest in history for a Division I softball coach. Wooden's career winning percentage was .804.

In Enquist's mind, Wooden remains the gold standard.

Early in her career, Enquist was having trouble deciding how to discipline a star player who had broken a team rule. Wooden, who won 10 NCAA titles, told her the story of how he handled a similar situation, and Enquist followed the same course.

``It worked out beautifully,'' Enquist said. ``The kid went on to become an incredible story. She graduated and had a great career.''

This fall, Enquist took her team to meet Wooden at his Encino condominium. Her team had only five upperclassmen and two unproven pitchers, and she hoped it would benefit from Wooden's perspective.

UCLA showed its character last weekend. The Bruins' comeback reminded many of the 2003 Women's College World Series, when UCLA rallied to win five elimination games and the national title after dropping its opener to California.

``She didn't get mad at us after we lost (to Cal),'' said U.S. national team shortstop Natasha Watley, UCLA's starting shortstop in 2003. ``She just said, 'See, that's what happens when you play with fear.' ... With Sue, it's all about lessons.''

Back in the ocean, it is clear the waves off Huntington Beach are as much a part of Enquist's life as the national titles. She was an amateur surfing champion and professional for two years after college, but that's not why she still does it. This place is the center she always returns to, the place where she can step outside of the bubble that is UCLA softball and take a few deep breaths.

This is where you'll find Enquist, she said, when she retires.

``People don't know this about me, but I'd do this full-time and pick up aluminum cans off the beach to make ends meet,'' she said, standing on the beach, looking out at the surf. ``I love this. It's timeless.

``When you get so busy in your head, it's almost like a tornado of thoughts every day about your team and how you can get them to be better. You come here, and it puts it all in perspective.''

Ramona Shelburne, [phone]

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) UCLA softball coach Sue Enquist, who has won 11 championships as a player and coach at the school, loves to surf. ``It's timeless,'' she said.

Leo Hetzel/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) Sue Enquist, right, has an .836 winning percentage as a softball coach at UCLA.

Photo courtesy of UCLA

Box:

(1) NCAA SUPER REGIONAL

(2) TOP OF THE HEAP