In a bit of an unorthodox move, UCLA women’s basketball player Gabriela Jaquez joined the Bruins softball team for the College World Series run.
She played softball in high school, but joining this late is certainly a surprising turn of events.
Rhiannon Potkey of D1Softball spoke with Cori Close about Gabriela Jaqiez joining the Bruins softball team:
“I said ‘Absolutely! It sounds like a no-brainer.’ It really wasn’t a hard decision. First of all, I really believe in Kelly and how she leads her program. But I also remember what a huge softball fan and player Gabriela was. I remember her senior year in high school she came down to watch UCLA softball in the NCAA Tournament.”[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]
UCLA is now getting ready for the Super Regionals and it would be quite the sorry if Jaquez ends up making a difference for the team after the women’s basketball team made a Sweet 16 run.
Close added more context to the decision:
“You never want to put your players at risk, but I am a big believer that you want to be wise and make solid decisions but you also don’t want to make decisions out of fear,” Close said. “I want to make decisions out of opportunity, and this is a great opportunity for Gabs and softball that I could not be more thankful to provide.”