Titans Hit Three Homers, Beat UCLA

Cal State Fullerton Coach Judi Garman was wondering which player to put in the leadoff spot against defending national champion UCLA Friday in the first round of the NCAA regional softball tournament at Fullerton.

Garman finally settled on second baseman Chris Zboril.

“She’s a senior, and I told her I wanted her to set the tone for the game by hitting the ball well, no matter what else,” Garman said.

She certainly did that. Zboril hit a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence, the first of three Fullerton home runs in three innings. Third baseman Traci Fischer also hit a homer later in the inning, and the 15th-ranked Titans defeated UCLA, 5-1, at the Titan Softball Complex.

Outfielder Senetha Thomas connected for a three-run homer, her 13th of the season, in the third innings after hits by Beth Queypo and Fischer.

The victory moved third-seeded Fullerton (40-26) into today’s winners’ bracket at 1 p.m. against top-seeded Cal State Northridge (43-14), which beat Southwest Missouri, 5-0, in the other first-round game.

UCLA (41-9), seeded second and ranked fourth nationally, faces a battle back in the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament at 3:30 p.m.

UCLA pitcher B’Ann Burns (26-6) had given up only four home runs in 197 innings during the regular season, and the Bruins had not given up more than one home run a game. Fullerton finished with 15 hits against Burns, the most UCLA has given up all season. Fischer, Thomas and Monica Bagalayos each had three hits.

Liza Brown (17-11) gave up 10 hits and walked three for the victory.

“We’ve been excited all week about playing UCLA, and it showed,” Fischer said. “Our frame of mind was to try to score in every inning.”

Garman said she didn’t feel comfortable with the Titans’ four-run lead. “That was still too close with the kind of hitters they have,” she said. “But getting those early runs made it easier.”

The Bruins scored their only run in bottom of the first when Ginny Mike-Mitchell reached base on an error, moved to third on Julie Adams’ double and scored when Alleah Poulson grounded out.

UCLA threatened in the seventh on hits by Adams and Poulson, but the Titans got two consecutive forceouts at third, one on a dive to the bag by shortstop Julie Williams. Christie Ambrosi then walked to load the bases, but pinch-hitter Sandra Burkey struck out to end the game. The Bruins left 13 runners on base. “We didn’t play well, and they played excellent,” UCLA co-coach Sharron Backus said.

The loss ended UCLA’s 13-game winning streak. Fullerton had won only five of its last 16.

In another regional game:

California 4, Long Beach State 1--After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Long Beach State’s bats fell silent and Cal rallied in the fifth and sixth inning to win at Fresno State.

Cal’s Jessica Parker scored the tying run on an infield single in the fifth. Then, with the bases loaded, Parker doubled and cleared the bases for a three-run lead for the Bears.

Cal (38-21) plays Fresno State at 2 p.m. today. Long Beach State (35-21) plays Texas A & M at 4:45 p.m. Fresno beat Texas A&M;, 5-2, Friday night.