First, the Bruins lost their sole home game of the season.
Now, they have lost their first home series – and second series overall – of the year.
“Across the board, not our best ball in the last two days, but … this is the game, teaching us how much more we need to be prepared for postseason,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “This team has done too many great things for us to get worried.”
No. 6 UCLA softball (44-7, 19-4 Big Ten) fell to No. 15 Oregon (40-10, 20-3) 13-11 in the second game of the final series of the year Saturday at Easton Stadium. While they scored 11 runs on the day – nine more than they scored on Friday – the Bruins still fell after giving up multiple runs in the seventh inning.
Thirteen hits for UCLA and 16 for Oregon, in addition to eight total walks and seven combined strikeouts between the two teams, led to a high-pitch-count affair, with Oregon’s pitchers throwing a combined 154 pitches to UCLA’s 147.
The lead had changed multiple times throughout the day ahead of the seventh inning.
Oregon fired off a home run in the first off UCLA starting pitcher freshman Natalie Cable.
“She gave up the one, but she got herself out of the inning, and it was not even on her. There was a missed pitch call that allowed for that girl to get a ball that she shouldn’t have been pitched,” Inouye-Perez said. “But I was proud that she got out of that first without having it get bigger than it could have been. She got the lead-off (lead-off hitter) out.”
Then UCLA responded with a two-run homer from senior utility Megan Grant – her 35th of the year – in the bottom of the first.
Both teams blasted more home runs, with a two-run homer that chased Bruins starting pitcher Cable out of the circle, and another two-run homer that chased out Ducks’ starter Lyndsey Grein – who returned later in the game and was taken out again.
“It was a dog fight of a game, and it was ‘who’s going to out-hit who,’” Inouye-Perez said. “We also chased their starter out of the game twice. … There’s some positives.”
But then the tide turned, and the Ducks paddled out, scoring six runs across the third and fourth innings to take a 9-6 lead.
From there, the Bruins could only inch closer, but they never led the game again.
Yet another two-run homer – this time from senior infielder Jordan Woolery – brought the Bruins within one run of the Ducks.
But the squad faltered in the seventh inning, just as it did Friday night.
A fielding error by Woolery – the Bruins’ third of the day in a season where they only had 33 total previously – put the first runner on base for the Ducks, and a walk put the second aboard.
“We definitely gave up a lot of hits, but our defense didn’t help us,” Inouye-Perez said. “We made a lot of errors, and we allowed for extra runs to score that, we limit that, and then we win this ball game.”
As senior pitcher Taylor Tinsley worked her way to three outs, the Ducks scored four runs on three different plays, the final two coming on a triple to right-center field that went just past redshirt junior Janelle Meono’s outstretched leap.
Tinsley tampered the bleeding with a flyout, but the damage was already done.
And yet, the Bruins still believed they could win.
“We’re not out of a game until the very last pitch. You could definitely feel that in the last inning. Everyone thought we were going to win that game. That’s just how much belief we have in each other and in ourselves,” said sophomore outfielder Rylee Slimp. “We definitely thought that we would win that game.”
Despite getting two onboard, and freshman infielder Bri Alejandre plating them with a three-run high shot, the Bruins picked up the next three outs and were unable to complete a comeback.
Sophomore infielder Kaniya Bragg said the team battled adversity Saturday with more fortitude than they had the game prior, allowing them to score three in the seventh and respond throughout the game.
“We were able to make adjustments compared to the first day,” Bragg said. “We trusted ourselves and trusted the process and trusted each other in the lineup.”
UCLA will have one last chance to salvage the series on Senior Day, where the Bruins will likely look to get the win for their trio of seniors, all of whom are headed to the Athletes Unlimited Softball League post graduation.
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