For the second straight day, the bats were hot in the UCLA-Arizona softball rivalry.
The No. 15 Bruins (29-13-1, 10-5-1 Pac-12) dropped the second game of their conference series against the No. 17 Wildcats (32-13, 9-5), losing on the road 8-4.
UCLA was playing catch up all day Sunday, with Arizona scoring runs early on against redshirt junior pitcher Paige McDuffee.
McDuffee ran into trouble early on in the second, allowing a leadoff home run before coach Kelly Inouye-Perez replaced her with sophomore pitcher Selina Ta’amilo.
The Bruins – now down 2-1 to the Wildcats – responded with a leadoff extra base hit by senior outfielder Allexis Bennett. UCLA’s cleanup hitter, senior third baseman Mysha Sataraka, then drove in Bennett with an RBI single to left.
After limiting the damage during the second inning, Ta’amilo was hit hard in the third. The Wildcats – behind a home run, passed ball and RBI single – took a decisive 5-2 lead that they would hold on to for the rest of the game.
Heading into the fifth inning, UCLA attempted to make a comeback behind the bats of Bennett and junior shortstop Delaney Spaulding. The Wildcats’ defense – which made three errors on the day – allowed Bennett to reach on an error to start the inning.
Spaulding, in as many nights, smashed her second home run of the series and narrowed the Arizona lead to 5-4.
Sophomore pitcher Johanna Grauer replaced Ta’amilo in the bottom of the fifth and ultimately struggled against the surging Wildcats’ offense. Arizona tacked on three more runs during the bottom of the sixth, sealing their 8-4 win.
The series, which is tied at 1-1, will be decided by Monday night’s game.