LOS ANGELES — Arizona’s trip to California started off with a delay.
A three-hour wait at the Tucson airport meant the Wildcats didn’t arrive at their beachside hotel in Marina del Rey until nearly midnight Thursday.
The Wildcats game against UCLA didn’t begin until 5 p.m. Friday, but maybe the flight delay was a bad omen.
The third-ranked Wildcats were run-ruled for the first time this season, losing 8-0 in five innings to No. 13 UCLA. The UA’s bats went cold at a chilly Easton Stadium.
“We didn’t play well. We got our (butts) beat,” UA coach Mike Candrea said. “They outperformed us in every aspect of the game. At this stage of the game, you can’t cruise into the postseason. We gotta continue to have a little hungriness, and today we just got beat. We got it handed to us.”
Friday’s game started with good news — Utah, on UA’s tail for the Pac-12 title, lost 6-0 to unranked Oregon State. The Utes’ loss meant Arizona needed to win two of this weekend’s three games to clinch the conference title.
Arizona, which leads the conference in hitting, scoring, home runs and earned run average, couldn’t get anything working in the first game against the Bruins and now will try to win those two games Saturday and Sunday. The loss dropped the Wildcats to 47-6 overall and 17-5 in the Pac-12.
“We just weren’t ready,” said UA outfielder Mandie Perez. “We weren’t the first ones to attack and we also, I don’t think we were mentally checked in.”
Early on, a pitchers duel between Arizona ace Danielle O’Toole and UCLA freshman Rachel Garcia was fairly even.
O’Toole retired UCLA’s first eight batters, striking out five of them. Then things turned for the UA senior.
With two outs in the third inning, UCLA outfielder Zoe Shaw singled through the right side, star shortstop Delaney Spaulding singled to right field, and Shaw scored when a Kylee Perez doubled past UA third baseman Katiyana Mauga.
UCLA third baseman Brianna Tautalafua hit a two-run double before O’Toole was able to get out of the inning.
“They got to her,” Candrea said. “They made some adjustments. We didn’t make adjustments. That’s the one thing that really disappointed me; it was all them and not much on our side of the coin.”
The Bruins scored off O’Toole in the fourth inning after a throwing error from shortstop Mo Mercado.
UCLA’s Perez reached on a fifth-inning fielding error by UA first baseman Jessie Harper. Tautalafua hit a single just out of the reach of Mauga. O’Toole was taken out for Nancy Bowling after a Madeline Jelenicki RBI single put the Wildcats down 5-0.
“I’m gonna have to go back and look at it, but I don’t think I missed really,” O’Toole said. “It was just kinda an unlucky stream. I just had a long talk with (pitching coach Stacy Iveson) about it. I don’t think it was as bad as it looks.”
For just the fifth time this season, O’Toole allowed more than five hits — UCLA had seven — along with seven runs (three earned), with five strikeouts and one walk.
UCLA walked off with the win when Bubba Nickles hit a 3-run home run to left-center off Bowling.
As for Garcia (16-7), the UCLA ace never slowed down, retiring eight straight batters to end the game and 15 of 18 overall in five innings, striking out four.
Perez and Mercado were the only Wildcats with hits, and both were singles. Designated player Tamara Statman was hit by a pitch in the second inning.
“We haven’t lost like that in I don’t know how long,” Perez said. “I can’t even remember.”
Candrea said he wishes Arizona walked into Easton with “a little more hunger” than it did Friday night. The Wildcats will play Game 2 Saturday at 6 p.m.
“We gotta turn it around. It’s not what happens; it’s how you react to it,” Candrea said. “We haven’t gone through a lot of ups and downs this year. This is definitely one that they need to learn from it and move on from it.”
Inside pitch
- O’Toole’s season ERA jumped to 1.04 from 0.95 after Friday, marking the first time all season it has been above 1.00. Her 1.04 mark still leads the Pac-12, though.
- Friday was Arizona’s first run-rule loss since Oregon beat the UA 8-0 in five innings last May.
