WCWS PHOTOS: UCLA vs. Arizona
During Thursday, May 30th press conference following UCLA’s win over No. 7 Minnesota, Bruin head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez was asked about facing Arizona in a winners’ bracket matchup. To find the recap covering the events of the intense match up, head here!
Q. A lot of history between UCLA and Arizona. It’s been a long time since that meeting happened in the Women’s College World Series. What are your thoughts on what facing them tomorrow means in the longevity context there?
KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: “Any time you talk Arizona-UCLA, it is a unique, unique game in that the history, you’re right, is just very, very real. It spanned decades. I got to personally be involved as an athlete. Arizona came on the scene later in my playing career in the early ’90s. Just so much respect for Coach Candrea, what he’s done, the players that have come through his program.
The fact that we just met, like you’re saying, so long ago in the World Series is really not how I look at it. We’re in the Pac-12. We compete every year. Every time there’s a UCLA-Arizona game, it is a great battle, usually a very offensive battle. We throw a lot of punches back and forth. You literally have to watch the game down to the last pitch, which is the typical UCLA-Arizona rivalry.
I think the best part about the Pac-12 is we have to get after playing each other not just once, twice, three times every year, and every year it’s an epic battle. Yeah, the World Series in 2010 was a long time ago, but we played them a couple weeks ago, it was an epic battle as well. I look forward to a good game. There’s a history and tradition that will never change.”
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