Lisa Fernandez has been suspended two games for making contact with an umpire during UCLA’s win over Texas A&M at the Women’s College World Series on Saturday.
Fernandez, one of the greatest softball players ever, is an assistant coach for her alma mater. Her Bruins were up 3-1 in the sixth when they ran themselves into a double-play to end the inning. Gabby Maurice tried to score from third but was thrown out at the plate, and she was injured on the tag as she tried to slide around A&M’s catcher.
That had Fernandez incensed. The assistant began yelling at the umps, leading to her ejection. Once she was tossed, she grew enraged and that’s when she bumped the ump.
To understand why Fernandez was so ticked off, you have to know the context for the whole situation.
The Bruins lost their first game of the WCWS on Thursday to LSU, 2-1. The loss included two controversial plays at home. One was on a bang-bang play at the plate where the Bruins’ Rachel Garcia was called out to end the second inning. Had she been called safe, the game would have been tied at 1. Then in the 5th inning, UCLA threw out a runner at home for what would have been the second out of the inning, keeping the score at 1-1. Instead, the Bruins were called for obstruction at home, giving LSU the go-ahead run to make it 2-1.
Fernandez was still obviously upset about the controversial calls from two days earlier and was wondering why obstruction wasn’t called against A&M on the play Saturday. She also wanted to show her team that she has their back no matter what. The Bruins did win the game 8-2 and will continue fighting through the tournament.
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