The new scoreboard at Easton Stadium had an eventful first night Saturday, as the Bruins and the Cardinal combined for 22 runs.
No. 15 UCLA (23-11-1, 5-3-1 Pac-12) won a thriller against Stanford (13-18, 0-7 Pac-12), rallying from behind in the bottom of the sixth to win 13-9.
The game could be broken down into three distinct stretches – two where UCLA looked as good as the team that won the series against Pac-12 leader Oregon and one where they looked as bad as the team that lost to 9-0 to Washington.
The Bruins were unstoppable at the plate to begin the night, scoring five runs in the first two innings. Sophomore Kylee Perez and senior Mysha Sataraka did most of the damage, each knocking in a pair of runners.
In the circle, redshirt junior Paige McDuffee held Stanford hitless through the first three innings before struggling.
McDuffee struggled through the fourth and fifth innings, allowing three runs in each of them before UCLA softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez replaced her with sophomore pitcher Selina Ta’amilo after 4 2/3 innings.
Despite the pitching change, the Cardinal capitalized on a fielding error by Perez, putting up three more unanswered runs.
Heading into the bottom of the sixth, Stanford seemed poised for their first conference win of the season.
The next half inning saw the first 10 UCLA batters reach base safely, putting up eight unanswered runs of their own behind five more RBI by Perez and Sataraka.