Softball faces UNLV in UCLA tournament
By Melissa Anderson
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
As the second-ranked UCLA softball team prepares to host the Easton/Reebok Invitational this weekend, it seems that the only opponent with a strong chance of stopping the undefeated Bruins is the weather.
UCLA will face some of its toughest competition of the season in No. 5 UNLV, No. 10 Michigan and Utah, but it will take more than a national ranking to put a scare into the Bruins.
"Utah and UNLV are looking to be our toughest opponents," UCLA assistant coach Kelly Inouye said. "Michigan has some new recruits and they've improved a lot, too."
The Bruins (14-0 overall, 2-0 in Pac-10) open the tourney this morning at 9 against Ohio State (2-4 overall) and will face Michigan Saturday at 3 p.m. The Wolverines (7-2) are led offensively by Kelly Kovach, who hit four home runs in the first week of the season. Freshman pitcher Sara Griffin, who posted nine strikeouts in her first collegiate start, will likely start against UCLA.
The Lady Rebels come into the tournament with a 15-2 record and hopes of avenging last year's loss in the South Regional finals after beating UCLA, 1-0, earlier in the tournament. The rematch is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
"I'm sure UNLV isn't happy about how we took regionals last year," Inouye said. "They pretty much sent us to nationals. But they are always pretty tough it's a good non-conference rivalry."
Utah (5-7) and UCLA will close out tournament competition Sunday at 3 p.m .The young Utes, who were not ranked in the first official poll of the season, have no returning seniors and post a starting lineup consisting of several freshmen. With early-season losses to UNLV and Ohio State, Utah is looking forward to the tough competition the tournament will provide.
"We feel like we're getting better every week we play," Utah head coach Jo Evans said. "Going into the UCLA tournament, we're anxious to play these teams. We always love to play UCLA. Our team always gets fired up to play them because they're always ranked near the top and they always provide a challenge."
Rounding out the field is South Carolina, which will not face the Bruins.
"All of these games are really big for us," Inouye said. "It's the one time we'll face most of these teams so if (NCAA seeds) come down to game-to-game rankings, it would be to our advantage to have these wins."