There’s Nothing Soft About UCLA’s Unhittable Staff : Softball: Fernandez, Compton, Weiman tough as Bruins chase fourth NCAA title in a row.

In style and appearance, the two are a world apart.

Lisa Fernandez is somebody you would expect to see strolling to the mound in a Bruin uniform, a representative of UCLA’s always-successful and top-ranked softball team.

She looks every bit the part, with an athlete’s build and an air of confidence that shows in her every step. The whirl of her arm as she whips the ball into the strike zone comes as no surprise. Nor does the sight of her picture-perfect windmill technique.

Heather Compton, on the other hand, does not fit the mold of a college pitcher. She is tall and fairly thin, with long brown hair and a schoolgirl face that makes you wonder how she could overpower anyone , much less another collegiate athlete. You have to see her pitch to believe that she can.

And watching her pitch is not only surprising, it can be entertaining--as long as you’re not standing at home plate with a bat in your hands.

Compton’s style is all her own: She looks, leans slightly, and in an instant her arm is in motion and the ball pops into the catcher’s glove. Her head snaps to one side upon her release, and while some prefer a gentle grunt, Compton’s release is accompanied by a high-pitch squeal that carries eerily through the air. It’s a style that intimidates some batters, annoys others.

Style and appearance aside, Fernandez and Compton have much in common.

Both were raised on softball fields, traveling the country with ballclubs in their preteen years, and both will play key roles as the Bruins (50-5) open NCAA tournament play today at UCLA against unranked Central Michigan (35-20). The Pacific Regional game begins at 4 p.m.

At 12, they pitched on the same team when they took the 12-and-under national championship at Oklahoma. Both were instrumental in the Bruins winning an unprecedented third consecutive national championship last season. Compton got the nod in the championship final against Fresno State, pitching a one-hit shutout in a game that lasted two days because of rain.

“It was hard last year because I pitched the championship game,” she said when asked about the pressure of being a freshman placed in such a situation. “But this year, there’s just as much, if not more, pressure because I’m older. I know I have to do even better. “

There are no complaints so far, according to UCLA Coach Sharron Backus.

All the two sophomores have done this season is pitch 15 shutouts apiece while finishing the regular season No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation, Fernandez with an earned-run average of 0.19 and Compton with an 0.20. More precisely, the two have allowed four earned runs apiece all season .

And as if this were not enough to send an opposing coach scrambling for a strategy, the Bruins have in their rotation another strong thrower, DeDe Weiman, who is not used as often as Fernandez and Compton only because of occasional control problems, resulting from the fact that “she throws so very hard,” according to Backus.

Weiman, her pitches closing the 43-foot gap between her and the batter at close to 70 m.p.h., still managed to post a 14-0 mark.

Together, UCLA pitchers have an ERA of 0.33, compared to their opponents’ 3.21.

UCLA hitters were led by the .408 average of outfielder Yvonne Gutierrez and significant contributions by Erica Ziencina at .336 and Fernandez at .335. As a team, UCLA is outhitting opponents, .308 to .138.

Fernandez and Weiman have pitched three no-hitters apiece this season, one of Fernandez’s being a perfect game against Iowa State on March 3.

In short, it has been business as usual for UCLA.

It’s a pitchers’ game, and UCLA, winner of seven national championships, once again has the best pitchers. Teams that aren’t used to facing such overwhelming arms aren’t quite sure how to deal with them. Most practice a lot of bunting before facing Bruin pitchers.

“It’s been a situation that, in the last 10 years or so, we have been blessed with some very outstanding young people--very mature, very in control and very dominating,” Backus said, modestly declining to boast about having recruited such past standouts as Lisa Richardson, Debbie Doom, Tracy Compton (Heather’s sister), Samantha Ford and Lisa Longaker.

As the Bruins seek their fourth NCAA title in a row, they will build around Fernandez and Compton, the latter probably starting today’s game against Central Michigan.

Compton’s strengths are her speed--about 70 m.p.h--and placement. She struck out a team-high 156 batters in 141 innings.

Fernandez, who has 144 strikeouts in 147 innings, has one of the best changeups in the game.

Weiman, with 136 strikeouts in 93 innings, simply overpowers batters--when she can find the strike zone. She leads the team in walks with 28.

“Our pitching staff is probably the best anywhere,” Gutierrez said. “We have three of the best pitchers around; they’re unhittable when they want to be.”

But the Bruins can be beaten. They lost two of their last four regular-season games. And despite such dominating throwers on the mound, there is cause for concern as injuries have led to a reshuffling of positions.

Most notably, a broken ankle suffered by catcher Ziencina late last month in a game against California has forced Kerry Dienelt to make the adjustment from first base to catcher in the last three regular-season games.

Backus said Fernandez and Compton are going to have to rise to the occasion. That’s just fine with the two pitchers. They say the biggest concern is whether the team can maintain its motivation throughout the playoffs.

“It’s hard every game, because every game you play, the other team is going to play their best,” Compton said. “They’re always motivated, and it’s hard (for us) to stay motivated--because we’re not playing UCLA.”