The Bruins flipped the script on their opponent.
No. 1 UCLA softball (36-2, 10-1 Pac-12) defeated Oregon (17-20, 2-9) 8-3, just one day after dropping the first game of the series by a score of 4-3.
“We call it a dirty W, it wasn’t the prettiest, but we got the job done, so that’s all that matters,” said sophomore shortstop Briana Perez.
Oregon scored first in the first inning after stringing three singles together for a 1-0 lead. But the Bruins got the run back and then some in the third inning, using three singles and an error to score 3 runs.
UCLA added to its lead in the fourth inning to make it 8-1. All nine batters came to the plate, as the Bruins took advantage of two walks, three hits and two fielding errors to score five runs.
Five of the team’s runs came against Oregon pitcher Jordan Dail, who had stifled UCLA’s offense in the loss the night before.
“It definitely feels good. … (Most) of us had at least three at-bats yesterday, and throughout every single at-bat everyone was trying to make adjustments,” said senior utility Taylor Pack. “Today we were able to come out and adjust and kind of capitalize on her mistakes.”
Pack and junior center fielder Bubba Nickles both recorded two hits in the game, and the latter also recorded three RBIs. The Bruins finished the game with nine hits, all singles.
UCLA also scored two of its eight runs on the three fielding errors that Oregon made, something assistant coach Kirk Walker attributes to the team’s better approach to creating opportunities for runs.
“Obviously the focus was to get runners on, and we needed to do whatever we can, and so some of our small ball players did a great job of creating some offense with the small ball,” Walker said. “Overall I think our hitters did a better job of being focused on making better contact rather than maybe swinging for a bigger hit.”
The Ducks would score two runs on a double in the fifth to shrink the lead to 8-3, but that’s all they got, as redshirt junior pitcher Rachel Garcia took the complete game victory after getting out of jams in both the sixth and seventh innings. Garcia finished the night having given up three runs on eight hits while striking out eight.
This marked the first time this season that any team has scored more than one earned run on Garcia, as well as the first time a team has recorded more than six total hits against her.
“She had to adjust from the first inning – the first inning wasn’t quite as crisp for her and she had to start mixing in some different pitches,” Walker said. “And I thought she did a tremendous job of really settling in and using all of her pitches effectively.”
The Bruins will finish off the three-game series with the tiebreaker game Sunday.