UCLA roundup: Softball, tennis teams advance

It’s another busy weekend in UCLA sports.

Softball: UCLA won its first game in the NCAA regionals 8-3 over Cal State Fullerton. The Bruins (#1 seed in their region, #3 nationally) will face Nevada today at 3 p.m. (TV: ESPNU). Today’s game is huge, as the winner advances to Sunday’s final and would only have to win one more game to advance to the super regionals. The loser would have to win three games in a row to advance. Nevada’s no pushover at 44-16 and #27 in the RPI.

Men’s tennis: The Bruins won their NCAA Round of 16 game 4-0 over Florida State on Friday. #3 seed UCLA advances to the quarterfinals to face #6 USC on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Tulsa. UCLA beat USC twice during the regular season, but that won’t mean anything when the teams play each other on Sunday.

Women’s tennis: UCLA faces Arkansas in the NCAA quarterfinals today at 2 p.m. The #7 seed Bruins caught a bit of a break as #15 seed Arkansas upset #2 seed Georgia on Thursday, but today’s match will still be very tough, as Arkansas is obviously still a very good team. You can get live scoring updates here.

Men’s golf: With one round left at the NCAA West Regionals to be played today, UCLA is tied for fourth place. The top 10 teams qualify for the NCAA Championships, and at +9, UCLA is 10 strokes ahead of 11th place. UCLA is ranked #4 nationally and would have a good shot at a national championship assuming they qualify. For live results today, check out golfstat.com.

Baseball: UCLA won 10-0 against Washington State on Friday night, a key win in that the Bruins need a strong finish to have any chance of making the NCAA tournament. Today’s game is surprisingly televised live on Fox Sports Net at 1:30 p.m. For more info, I’m sure ryebreadraz will have a full recap soon at Bruins Nation.

Nationals invade Baltimore

One of the great things about interleague play are the geographical rivalries that you otherwise normally wouldn’t get to see. We get to see Angels-Dodgers, A’s-Giants, White Sox-Cubs, Rangers-Astros, Yankees-Mets, Devil Rays-Marlins, Royals-Cardinals and with the Expos moving to Washington, Orioles-Nationals.

While I don’t believe the players on the field treat the games as a rivalry, the fans certainly do. So it’s nice to see the organizations getting into the act.

The Nationals sent their mascots and other employees to Inner Harbor, a landmark/tourist area very close to Baltimore’s Camden Yards, to give away stuff and promote their team. Reportedly, Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos was fine with it, but you have to think that privately, he has to have been furious considering he was the biggest opponent to the Nationals moving to DC in the first place.

I’d like to see more of this — teams trying to get under each others’ skin and invade a local rival’s turf with giveaways, promotions and meet-and-greats with mascots and  people from the organization

(I got the photos from the excellent Nationals blog Nats320. Check them out.)