On a brisk Wednesday night at Easton Stadium, UCLA’s hot streak finally cooled.
After a 17-0 start to the season, No. 3 UCLA finally fell from the ranks of the unbeaten, losing to No. 4 Michigan, 9-4. The loss leaves No. 1 Florida (21-0) as the lone unbeaten team in college softball.
UCLA’s torrid streak was extinguished by a Michigan offense that recorded 11 hits and two home runs. Just a night earlier, Michigan put up just one run in an eight-inning contest that the Bruins won on a walk-off home run.
“It was a high-scoring game this time, but high-scoring game, low-scoring game, we’re usually good at just battling back,” said sophomore catcher Brittany Moeai.
While eight of Michigan’s nine RBIs came on extra-base hits, their offensive rallies began with small ones. Michigan’s three-run third inning and three-run fifth inning were both catalyzed with bunt singles. The Bruins weren’t credited with any defensive errors, but the bunt singles were close plays that they believe they are capable of making.
“There were a lot of plays, (the bunt plays) included, that were not typical of how we would play,” said assistant coach Kirk Walker. “I think Michigan put down some good bunts, and that’s fine, but I think we clearly were not firing on all cylinders in several of those situations.”
Michigan capitalized on its small hits by getting the big ones with runners on base.
After the Wolverines began the third inning with a walk, bunt single and a base-hit single, shortstop Sierra Romero clubbed a two-run double into right-center field. Then, after an RBI groundout, Michigan outfielder Sierra Lawrence hit a ball to deep center that was heading toward the top of the center-field fence.
With UCLA players and fans holding their collective breaths, UCLA freshman center fielder Gabby Maurice came to the rescue with a leaping catch that kept Michigan from doing any more damage in the third inning.
“Prior to (Wednesday), she had hit the ball right over my head, so today we made an adjustment and we were playing pretty much against the wall,” Maurice said.
The catch gave Maurice a little momentum that carried on into the bottom half of the inning, when she connected on a run-scoring single that cut the Michigan deficit to 3-2. But for seemingly every big hit UCLA had, Michigan had a bigger one.
In the top of the fifth, Romero, Michigan’s leader in batting average, home runs, RBI and total bases, stepped to the plate once again.
This time, Romero’s extra-base hit would not stay in the park.
After Michigan began the inning with a pair of singles, Romero hit a ball that not only cleared the left field fence of Easton Stadium, but also eclipsed the scoreboard. Romero’s towering three-run home run gave Michigan a 6-2 lead. UCLA would come back with two runs in the sixth, but Michigan countered with a two-run home run of its own in the top of the seventh, essentially securing its victory.
Losing is a new feeling for this 2014 UCLA softball team. While it is not a feeling that the Bruins want to familiarize themselves with, they see that losing can provide a healthy learning experience.
“In reality, we’ve been squeaking by (in) a lot of games just like this, and this time we didn’t pull through,” Maurice said. “So I think it’s just a reality check, I think it is much needed.”