Editor’s note: For more than three decades, the UA has been one of college softball’s best teams, making 23 Women’s College World Series appearances and winning eight national championships. The Star is re-living each of the WCWS trips.
1992: One pitch dooms Wildcats in WCWS final series AGAINST UCLA
What went down: One screwball that floated — that’s all it took. UCLA’s Jennifer Brewster swung and connected for a home run to give the Bruins a 2-0 victory over Arizona in the final series of the Women’s College World Series.
The teams split their four matchups in 1992, with UCLA’s only two losses of the season coming at the hands of the Wildcats.
Lisa Fernandez (29-0) beat the Wildcats three times; in the title-clinching game, she struck out six, gave up four hits and walked one.
The Wildcats (58-7) overcame a 1-0 loss to Long Beach State in the WCWS opener, winning three straight games to make it to the final series. Arizona would have had to beat UCLA twice in a row to win the championship.
Four Wildcats were named to the WCWS all-tournament team: Amy Chellevold, Susie Duarte, Susie Parra and Debby Day.
From the archives: The Star’s Anthony Gimino wrote that UCLA’s one-two punch of Fernandez on the mound and Kelly Inouye behind the plate was key:
Arizona’s best chance came in the first inning. Amy Chellevold, who had three hits, led off with a single, and was sacrificed to second. Laura Espinoza then popped out to shortstop, as did Jody Miller-Pruitt.
“She’s the best in the world,” Candrea said of Fernandez. “You have to beat her with a mistake.”
Not only did they play errorless ball, but catcher Kelly Inouye took away one of Arizona’s weapons – the stolen base. … Arizona was 0-for-3 yesterday, due in part, Candrea said, because of the slow, soft dirt at ASA Stadium.
“This is a horse track here,” Candrea said. “It’s a very slow infield. For a team that is speed-oriented, it definitely took an element of our game away from us. I’m not using that as an excuse – it was the same for both teams – but a pretty important part of our game wasn’t there.”
But, UCLA won with power, not speed. Brewster’s one swing turned a close game into dramatic victory.
She said it: “I expected to win, I really did. And that makes the outcome much more disappointing.” — Day
After OKC: Day and Parra shared pitching duties in 1992. Parra, a sophomore, pitched 24 scoreless innings in the World Series. In her college career, she went a combined 9-1 in the WCWS with eight shutouts and a 0.00 ERA. In 1993, she beat and ended Fernandez’s 44-game winning streak.
Parra, one of the best pitchers in UA history, ended up winning two Pac-10 titles and three WCWS titles. She was a three-time World Series All-Tournament Team member, three-time All-American, Pac-10 Player of the Year, Honda Softball Player of the Year and National Player of the Year — the first Wildcat to receive this honor. She won a gold medal in the World Championships.
Parra played professionally in Japan and Italy. She went into coaching after her playing career ended, and served as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton and co-head coach at Santa Ana Community College before joining the staff of the California Commotion of National Pro Fastpitch in December.
The big number: 3. Arizona has finished runner-up five times. Three times, in 1992, 1995 and 2010, the UA lost to UCLA.
