Editor’s note: This story appears in Sunday’s special section honoring retiring UA softball coach Mike Candrea.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The idea started at the hotel, players gathered in a room, watching a team highlight video, getting their hair twisted into their lucky double braids.
How nice would it be, outfielder Brandi Shriver asked her teammates, if we can get this over with in five innings?
“The dream began right there,” said center fielder Alison Johnsen.
As they often have for Arizona, dreams came true yesterday.
The Team of the Decade won another College World Series by beating UCLA 10-2 in five innings at Hall of Fame Stadium, the game stopped early because of the eight-run mercy rule.
“It’s everything that our team has worked for all year,” said senior first baseman Leah O’Brien. “Knowing this is my last chance in college ever, there is nothing better than what we did today.”
The run-rule talk may have typical pregame brashness, but it also showed an important characteristic of this team: confidence.
“These kids expect to win,” said UA coach Mike Candrea. “It’s not a shock. It’s not a surprise.”
From start to finish, Arizona was in control, scoring early off 1996 U.S. Olympic star Christa Williams and then sealing the victory with four runs in the fifth.
As the last out was made, Robert Pineda, the father of third baseman Lety Pineda, held high a sign he had brought from Tucson: 1997 NCAA Softball Champions — One for the Thumb.
Five rings in seven years.
“I think our program right now is looked upon by people around the country as one that has class, that has integrity and that wins,” Candrea said. “And doesn’t just win with pure talent, but with all the ingredients. That’s the thing I probably enjoy most.”
Candrea will tell you each title is different; his players agree. This one comes with a bonus because of their rivalry with UCLA.
Earlier this month, the NCAA banned the Bruins from the postseason because of scholarship violations that helped them win the 1995 title over Arizona. But UCLA appealed the decision and was allowed to play until the case can be heard this summer.
If the appeal is denied, the Bruins will sit out next year’s playoffs.
“This was sweet revenge,” Johnsen said. “A lot of us thought they didn’t belong here this year. But they played a great tournament, and proved they were a great team.”
UCLA didn’t exactly play like one yesterday, however, as Arizona’s short game made short work of the Bruins.
Johnsen led off the game with an infield single, and then the Bruins misplayed two bunts into hits as Arizona loaded the bases. With one out, Nancy Evans ripped a double into left, giving the UA a 2-0 lead.
Williams got wild in the second. She walked O’Brien to load the bases with two outs and then walked the next two batters, making it 4-0. Pineda’s grounder should have ended the inning, but the ball rolled under the glove and between the feet of second baseman Laurie Fritz, letting two more runners score.
“Those first couple of innings told the whole story of the game,” said UCLA coach Sue Enquist. “When you get to the end like this, you can’t crack.”
The Bruins hit back-to-back homers off Evans in the bottom of the second to pull within 6-2 and were certainly capable of making the game interesting. Remember, Arizona led 6-0 in last year’s title game against Washington before desperately hanging on, 6-4.
“(After the home runs), I had the whole team behind me, pushing for me,” said Evans, who was selected the Most Valuable Player of the Series. “It’s been a long week, but that didn’t matter. This was it. This was do or die. I just stepped back and said, ‘No more.’”
That was it for UCLA, but not for the Wildcats. They continued to pressure Williams and struck again in the fifth.
With the bases loaded, O’Brien’s chopper bounced just over Williams’ glove and went perfectly between the middle infielders — it was that kind of day for Arizona — to drive in two more.
Katie Swan then scored on a wild pitch, and Pineda drove in the 10th run with a single, putting the UA within three outs of the victory.
UCLA got a hit to lead off the bottom of the fifth. But Evans then retired three straight, closing out the least dramatic of the five games Arizona played at the series and making Shriver’s prediction come true.
“I just felt really confident coming in here,” Shriver said. “It’s UCLA. It don’t think they are a very strong team mentally, or physically for that matter.”
Still, the ease of yesterday’s win was stunning. Consider: These teams had played 14 innings on Friday night before Arizona eked out a 2-0 victory.
Asked if the mercy rule should not apply to title games, Enquist said: “I don’t know. To be candid, it was not something I thought I would be dealing with.”
The UA needed eight innings to turn away a surprisingly good Massachusetts team in the first round and then had to twice play UCLA and Fresno State — teams that had beaten the UA during the regular season.
“This title was by far the toughest. By far. By far,” Candrea said. “This was special because of the way we had to go about winning. I think it was a true test of our character, our heart, our conditioning, our togetherness.”
And maybe the UA had some divine help.
Before yesterday’s game, Candrea was comforted by what he saw during practice — geese flying overhead in V formation, the symbol of the Wildcats’ postseason rallying cry: “Operation Victory.”
They’re headed home. Mission accomplished.
