UCLA softball was in free fall. For the first time in four years, the Bruins had lost four games in a row. The last two were at home, and the last was Saturday’s 9-2 drubbing at the hands of Arizona. Sunday was the Bruins’ chance to prevent that streak from stretching to five.
The Bruins have lost five games in a row twice in their storied history, both times in 1998, when they went 18-27 and didn’t make the NCAA Tournament.
Sunday, the No. 5 Bruins (27-8, 2-4 Pac-10) got back on track with a 3-2 win over No. 9 Arizona (32-9, 4-2). Sunday’s game was the weekend’s only bright spot. Friday saw a 5-0 loss at the hands of No. 4 Arizona State (32-7, 4-2). And Saturday was worse for the team, which lost 9-2 to Arizona.
“That’s the best part about (Sunday’s win). We came out here and we had an opportunity to do things differently than we did on Friday (and Saturday),” coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said.
Friday’s game was all Sun Devils.
ASU’s Kaylyn Castillo led off the second inning with a home run to get the Sun Devils started. ASU would add four runs in the third to extend its lead.
The Bruins’ offense, on the other hand, was anemic, and stranded eight base runners.
“Timely hitting: That’s our game, and when we fall short, you’ll see that we don’t come out with (a win),” Inouye-Perez said.
Saturday saw a completely different team take the field ““ literally. As a show of team solidarity, everyone on the Bruin roster changed their uniform numbers for the game. The tactic worked, it seemed, and the Bruins scored two quick runs in front of a raucous, sell-out crowd of nearly 1,300.
But Arizona bounced right back. Redshirt sophomore pitcher Whitney Baker (8-2) hit a batter and walked another before giving up a three-run home run to Arizona’s Lauren Schutzler.
Baker survived the inning but was replaced in the third by Donna Kerr (15-6), who took Friday’s loss. Kerr was erratic, hitting three batters and surrendering six more runs before being exchanged for Baker in the seventh.
“I’m just off a little bit,” Kerr said. “I need to get back to my routine, my mechanics. Luckily, I have this week to get everything situated for next week.”
Sunday didn’t go well for Kerr either, as she gave up a home run to Arizona’s Jenae Leles in the first. In the second, Bruin outfielder Amy Crawford dropped a ball that gave Lini Koria second base. Then, Kerr threw a wild pitch, which allowed Koria to take third. After that, she walked Kristen Arriola.
Inouye-Perez had seen enough. She swapped Kerr for Megan Langenfeld (4-0) and shuffled her players to move Crawford to first and Kerr to right. Kerr had not played right field with the Bruins.
Although a throwing error by Bruin catcher Kaila Shull led to a second run for the Wildcats, Langenfeld stopped the bleeding, retiring 17 of 18 batters faced and 13 in a row to end the game.
And while Langenfeld worked in the circle, the Bruins found a way to score. They put together back-to-back rallies in the second and third to run the score 3-2.