Softball storms past Aztecs in season opener
Bruins get 6-0 win
over SDSU despite
two-hour rain delay
By Rick Pal
The road to Oklahoma, the site of this year's College World Series, began Wednesday afternoon for the UCLA softball team.
The Bruins opened up the season with a convincing non-conference victory, defeating the San Diego State Aztecs, 6-0, at Easton Softball Stadium after a rain delay.
The game, originally scheduled for 1p.m., was tentatively canceled after rain drenched the field. When the downpour cleared, the teams chose to play, and after an infield crew straightened up the infield, the game began, almost two hours late.
Despite the delay, it didn't take long for the Bruins to get on the scoreboard. All-American third baseman Jennifer Brundage broke the game open in her first at bat of the season, blasting Aztec pitcher Katrina King's pitch well beyond the left field fence and giving the Bruins a one-run lead in the first inning.
After Brundage's home run, the game turned into a pitching duel between King and Bruin pitcher B'Ann Burns. Burns, who earned the starting role vacated by All-American DeeDee Weiman, didn't miss a beat, cruising through the SDSU lineup and finishing with a complete-game shutout and seven strikeouts. She allowed only three hits and four walks.
The only formidable threat the Aztecs could mount occurred in the fourth inning, when Aztec pinch runner Kelly Ozaki was gunned down at home plate after trying to score from second on a single by first baseman Shanon Rice.
The Bruins put the exclamation point on the victory in the bottom of the sixth, scoring five runs while batting through the order.
Second baseman Kelly Howard started the inning with a line drive single, and advanced to second on a well-placed bunt single by center fielder Kathi Evans. Brundage ripped a double down the third base line, scoring Howard as well as igniting the scoring drive. UCLA tallied up four more runs, sealing the Aztec's fate. The runs were scored by Brundage, who finished the game batting a perfect 1.000, Evans, pinch runner Ginny Mike and first baseman Alleah Poulson.
The Bruins open conference play in with a double header at Arizona State on Saturday. Last year, the Sun Devils season record was 22-41 overall, and 7-17 in conference play.