Championship Notes



May 26, 2003

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  • UCLA won its ninth NCAA softball championship and the school's 90th, which is tops among all Division I schools. The UCLA athletics department also won the men's soccer, women's gymnastics and women's water polo NCAA titles during the 2002-03 academic year.

  • WCWS Most Oustanding Player Keira Goerl threw the 14th shutout in WCWS Championship Game history and the first UCLA no-hitter in the title game. Goerl earned her first complete game no-hitter of the season and the seventh of her career. Goerl shared a no-hitter with Michelle Turner in the Bruins Regional opener against Colgate on May 15.

  • Goerl registered her fifth complete game in the last three days and sixth of the 2003 WCWS. She started each of UCLA's 10 postseason games this year and went 9-1. Goerl threw a total of 71 innings in 10 postseason games. She struck out 63 batters in the postseason and gave up just four earned runs while improving to 40-7 on the season. Goerl posted a 0.55 ERA in the WCWS.

  • Cal failed in its bid to become the third school in NCAA softball history to repeat as national champion, a feat that has been accomplished twice by both Arizona and UCLA.

  • California starting pitcher Kelly Anderson was also impressive in the postseason, giving up just five earned runs in 69 innings of work. Anderson finished the postseason with a record of 7-2, with losses to UCLA and Texas at the WCWS.

  • UCLA became the second team in WCWS history to win after losing their first game in the tournament. The only other squad to do that was Texas A&M in 1983.

  • Today was the third WCWS championship game appearance for UCLA's senior class (Toria Auelua, Monique Mejia, Tairia Mims and Natasha Watley). Every four-year player in UCLA softball history has won a national title.

  • UCLA has won 17 of its last 18 games against California, dating back to the 1998 season. The lone loss was on Thursday night in the WCWS when Cal won 7-3 in extra innings.

  • Over its last 94 postseason innings (dating back to last year) Cal pitchers have allowed just seven earned runs (nine total runs) while scoring 47 runs during the same span.

  • Through its nine postseason games entering today, Cal had outscored its opposition 37-8.

  • Cal fell to 3-5 in extra inning games this season with two of those wins coming in this year's WCWS. UCLA improved to 3-1 in extra inning games.

  • The national champion Bruins finished the season with a 54-7 record, while the national runner-up Golden Bears ended 2003 with a 49-20 mark.

  • Cal was shut out for the 10th time this season. Three of those came against UCLA. Today marked the first time this season that Cal was held hitless.

  • The WCWS championship game had only gone to extra innings four times prior to this season and it happened in the first four title games (1982-85).

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