UCLA SOFTBALL: 2008 IN REVIEW 2008 SEASON IN REVIEW A year after missing out on the Women’s College World Series, the Bruins returned to Oklahoma (April 4-6). The Bruins’ fi rst Pac-10 road trip took them to the Arizona schools. With the Bruins City in 2008, posting a 51-9 record for the school’s highest win total in fi ve years and UCLA’s 12th ranked atop one national poll and Arizona State leading the other, the two teams met on April 11 in 50-win campaign. The Bruins were one of fi ve teams in the nation ranked in the Top 25 in batting Tempe, but the Sun Devils came away with a 3-0 victory. Things got even worse the next day when average, earned run average and fi elding percentage. Offensively, UCLA had 93 doubles, the third UCLA was run-ruled at Arizona. However, the Bruins ended the road trip on a good note, defeating most in program history for a single season and were ranked 15th in the nation. In the circle, the Wildcats 2-1 on a seventh-inning home run by Jennifer Schroeder. the Bruins allowed only 12 home runs, the third fewest total among teams that made the NCAA The eight-game road trip continued in Washington and so did the winning, with the Bruins Tournament. UCLA had four players, GiOnna DiSalvatore, Amanda Kamekona, Megan Langenfeld sweeping a two-game set from the Huskies. In the fi rst contest in Seattle on April 18, Selden won and Anjelica Selden, earn All-American honors, the most awards for a Bruin team since 2003. The her 100th career game, striking out 14. The Bruins then traveled to the Bay Area and racked up Bruins also received six All-Region accolades, the most since 1999, and had a conference-best three more wins against California (April 25) and Stanford (April 26 and 27). nine players earn Pac-10 Player or Pitcher of the Week honors. UCLA returned to Easton Stadium for its fi nal regular-season homestand, looking to avenge To say the fi rst weekend of the 2008 season was exciting would be an understatement. Among earlier losses to Arizona and Arizona State. On May 2 against the Wildcats, the Bruins improved the four Bruin victories at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament were an impressive debut for their winning streak to seven, as Monica Harrison hit a walk-off bomb for her fi rst collegiate home a Bruin pitcher, a record-setting victory and a dramatic, extra-inning comeback win. Following a win run in a 2-1 victory. The following afternoon, Kamekona hit two home runs, as the Bruins became over Nevada in the fi rst game of the season on Feb. 8, freshman Donna Kerr, in her fi rst career just the second team to shutout Arizona State’s powerful offense in a 5-0 win which tied UCLA with start, struck out nine in a complete-game, four-hit victory over fi fth-ranked Oklahoma. The next the Sun Devils for fi rst place in the Pac-10. On May 4, UCLA honored its four seniors in an emotional day, the Bruins crushed Santa Clara 27-1, setting school records for runs, RBI and hits in a game. pre-game ceremony, but unfortunately came out on the losing end of a 5-2 decision. The Bruins Individually, Kamekona broke a UCLA single-game record with eight runs batted in, while Samantha concluded the regular season with a 2-1 record at Oregon (May 8) and Oregon State (May 9 and Camuso established a new watershed mark for runs scored with fi ve. But that wasn’t even the most 10) to fi nish conference play second to Arizona State with a 17-4 mark. thrilling game of Feb. 9. In the nightcap, the Bruins found themselves trailing UC Santa Barbara 5-2 UCLA earned a #2-national seed and hosted the Regional round at Easton Stadium. After an 8-3 in the bottom of the seventh. But with two on and two out, DiSalvatore slammed a pitch over the victory in the opener against Cal State Fullerton on May 16, the Bruins found themselves trailing right-fi eld wall to tie the game at fi ve. After the Gauchos were turned away in the top of the eighth, Nevada 4-3 with two outs in the top of the seventh. But a Katie Schroeder single tied the contest Kaila Shull’s two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the inning gave the Bruins a 7-5 win. and she would go on to drive in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, with the Bruins eventually The Bruins fi nished the opening weekend with a 4-1 mark and again went 4-1 in their second winning 6-4. Langenfeld was the star in the circle for UCLA, tossing 7 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, tournament of the season, the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas. But it wasn’t all good fanning a career-high 10. On Regional championship day (May 18), UCLA fell behind an opponent luck for UCLA in Vegas. In a 6-2 loss to Illinois on Feb. 16, Ashley Herrera, who tore her ACL in the for the third straight game, but came back to win it 4-3 to advance to the Super Regionals. A go- fi rst game of the 2007 campaign, fractured her ankle sliding into third base. The senior would go ahead home run by Camuso in the sixth inning proved to be the difference. on to miss the next 38 games before returning with two weeks to go in the regular season. The Bruins matched up with 15-seed Georgia in the Supers, but the visiting Bulldogs proved to be UCLA was undeterred by the loss of one of its leaders, winning 19 consecutive games from Feb. no match for the home team. After Georgia scored on a fi rst-inning home run in game one (May 24), 16 to March 9. The Bruins defeated seven ranked teams during their streak, including a pair of UCLA came back with six unanswered runs to win it 6-1. The Bruins broke out the bats the following victories over Northwestern (Feb. 24 and March 9) and exciting one-run wins over San Diego State evening in game two to get back to the Women’s College World Series. Kamekona and Jennifer (March 1) and Virginia Tech (March 7). UCLA outscored its opponents 93-15 during the 19-game Schroeder each homered and Selden struck out 10 in a 6-0 shutout victory. winning streak, posting 11 shutouts along the way. One of the blankings was a perfect game by The Bruins’ side of the bracket had a Pac-10 feel to it, with Arizona and Arizona State, along with Kerr against Saint Peter’s on March 2 at the San Diego Classic. In a game that lasted only 58 Alabama, in that foursome. UCLA faced the Wildcats fi rst on May 29 and came away with a 1-0 minutes, the freshman retired all 15 batters she faced, striking out seven. The Bruins also pitched victory. The only run of the game came in the fi rst inning on an RBI single by Kamekona. It marked seven one-hitters during the winning streak. the 44th time that UCLA scored fi rst in 2008 and the 30th time that it crossed home plate in After an extra-inning home loss to Cal State Fullerton on March 12 that ended their streak, the the fi rst inning, remaining undefeated in both instances. Selden punched out nine in a three-hit Bruins won their next 10, ascending to number one in the national rankings. UCLA opened Pac-10 shutout to advance the Bruins into the winner’s bracket. Selden struck out nine more in each of the play with a 7-0 record, its best start to conference action since 1993. All seven victories came at next two games against Arizona State (May 30) and Florida (May 31), but the Bruin offense could home against the Oregon schools (March 28-30), Washington (April 2) and the Bay Area teams not muster up a run, as UCLA was eliminated from the Women’s College World Series. 48 2009 UCLA SOFTBALL MEDIA GUIDE 2008 SENIORS AND AWARDS #13 KRISTA COLBURN OUTFIELDER MUKILTEO, WASH. YEAR AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HP OB% SF SH SB 2005 .294 60-60 163 16 48 6 2 3 20 67 .411 19 0 .366 1 5 4 2006 .283 59-59 191 26 54 7 4 7 39 90 .471 10 3 .327 1 17 3 2007 .382 55-55 173 50 66 9 2 7 32 100 .578 35 0 .483 1 5 11 2008 .320 59-59 169 43 54 9 0 2 25 69 .408 35 1 .431 4 9 4 TOT .319 233-233 696 135 222 31 8 19 116 326 .468 99 4 .403 7 36 22 #11 ASHLEY HERRERA UTILITY CANYON COUNTRY, CALIF. YEAR AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HP OB% SF SH SB 2004 .196 48-25 51 17 10 1 0 4 11 23 .451 8 1 .317 0 1 6 2005 .257 60-56 140 18 36 6 0 3 7 51 .364 11 0 .311 0 8 6 2006 .183 59-59 153 24 28 3 0 4 15 43 .281 15 0 .256 0 4 16 2007 .500 1-1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 .500 0 0 .500 0 0 0 2008 .364 22-22 66 13 24 0 0 0 0 24 .364 2 1 .391 0 6 5 TOT .240 190-163 412 72 99 10 0 11 33 142 .345 36 2 .304 0 19 33 #44 DANIELLE PETERSON DESIGNATED PLAYER SAN JOSE, CALIF.