Titans Don’t Get the Bounces This Time : Top-Ranked Fullerton Splits Softball Doubleheader With UCLA

Connie Clark says it doesn’t hurt to have a little good fortune to go along with a good fastball. Softballs can take funny bounces, she figures, no matter how hard they’re pitched.

With a little luck and a lot of strikes, Clark had won 30 straight games entering Thursday’s nonconference game against UCLA. The Cal State Fullerton pitcher’s last loss came last April.

But those funny bounces finally caught up with her against the Bruins. With an infield hit here and bloop single there, UCLA collected eight hits and handed Clark her first loss of the season with a 3-1 victory in the first game of a doubleheader at Fullerton.

The top-ranked Titans took advantage of four UCLA errors in the second game for a 2-0 victory that gave Coach Judi Garman her 400th victory at Fullerton.

The split left Fullerton with a 43-4 record, and a 2-2 mark for this week. The Titans had a 34-game winning streak snapped Tuesday with a 1-0 loss to Cal Poly Pomona. Suddenly, a team that had everything going its way is finding out that victories can’t be taken for granted.

“The problem is that we’ve been winning so easily this year that we’ve been able to make mistakes and get away with them,” Garman said. “But when you play good teams, you can’t always be lucky.”

UCLA (33-7) scored twice in the sixth and once in the seventh to overcome a 1-0 deficit and give Clark her first loss in 24 decisions this season. Freshman Lisa Longaker (13-3) got the victory, striking out nine and scattering eight hits. A run-scoring single by Gina Holmstrom and sacrifice fly by Kathy Lorenz gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead, and they made it 3-1 in the seventh when Sam Arledge scored from third on Janice Park’s infield single.

Parks’ hit was a chopper in front of the plate, one that typified the way the Bruins chipped away at Clark’s once-perfect record.

“I felt pretty good . . . I felt loose,” Clark said. “They just seemed to get those little hits that are kind of irritating. It wasn’t like they were ripping the ball.”

Said UCLA Coach Sharron Backus: “We were very fortunate to get the rub of the ball in that first game.”

The Bruins had trouble hanging onto the ball in the second game. Fullerton took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Rina Foster reached third on a three-base throwing error by Parks, and scored when second baseman Donna Forman booted Kristine Glomboske’s grounder. The Titans added a run with two out in the fifth, when UCLA shortstop Lisa Hankerd mishandled Chenita Rogers’ ground ball, enabling Michelle Gromacki to score from third.