The 15th-ranked Arizona softball team put runners in scoring position in five of the seven innings, four times with less than two out, but managed only two runs in a 7-2 loss Saturday night to UCLA.
UCLA (35-15, 11-9 Pac-12) secured the series win and handed Arizona (32-16, 9-11 Pac-12) its third straight conference loss and fourth overall. The 11 conference losses are the most for UA since dropping 12 Western Collegiate Athletic Association games in 1983, the program's second year in Division I.
Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the second inning before yielding seven unanswered runs, with four of those coming in the sixth. In the two games this series, UCLA is outscoring Arizona by just three total runs through the first five and a half innings but holds a 9-1 advantage from that point forward.
Two Arizona errors in combination with nine Shelby Babcock walks gave UCLA an excess of unearned bases. Babcock (16-9) allowed seven runs on eight hits while walking nine and striking out five. Even with its seven runs scored, UCLA still stranded 10 runners on base.
The Cats knocked Bruins starter Ally Carda out of the game after just two innings. Carda gave up one run on two hits while facing nine batters before giving way to Jessica Hall (18-10), who shut UA down in relief. Hall, the starter in the series opener, allowed one run on four hits while walking three and striking out four in five innings.
Brigette Del Ponte and Kristen Arriola had the Wildcats' RBIs in the contest.
While the series opener featured four home runs, neither team hit a long ball Saturday night.
The Cats got on the board first in the second inning. Shelby Pendley singled to begin the frame and got to second on Lini Koria’s sac bunt. Jessica Spigner was then hit by a pitch before Arriola hit a grounder off Carda’s glove to bring Pendley home.
That lead would stand until the bottom of the third, when Babcock walked four Bruins, the final two of which each brought home a run to give UCLA a 2-1 lead.
The Bruins added to their lead in the fifth. Andrea Harrison led off the inning with a double to left, and Babcock then walked B.B. Bates to put the first two on. Two consecutive sacrifices, the first a bunt and the second a fly ball, gave UCLA a 3-1 lead.
The Bruins brought 10 to the plate in their four-run sixth inning to put the game out of reach. The inning included two UA errors and four walks.
The Cats scored their final run of the game on a Del Ponte single to right field to cut the lead to 7-2. The game ended with two UA runners stranded.
