No. 17 softball falls short one in potential weekend sweep of Arizona

Senior first baseman Dani Yudin found her left leg pinned under her after missing a lunging catch attempt on a throw from shortstop.

As a grimace swept across her face, the crowd drew in a breath of silence.

Yudin though picked herself up and shook her entire body to subside the pain.

However, she and No. 17 UCLA (35-16, 11-10 Pac-12) weren’t able to shake their shoddy defense in a 7-6 loss to No. 13 Arizona (33-16, 10-11) in the team’s last regular season home game.

“Today we fell short on the defensive end. We had it there in the end if we wouldn’t have made some little mistakes,” senior utility Andrea Harrison said.

UCLA’s potent offense, led by redshirt senior designated player Samantha Camuso and her two home runs, six RBI performance kept the Bruins in the game until their very last at bat.

With the Bruins trailing by one and down to their final out, Yudin stepped to the plate with a runner in scoring position.

But the senior couldn’t quite find her mojo as she struck out to end the game.

Though the loss dampened the festivities of senior day, the Bruins still emerged with the series win. UCLA defeated Arizona 10-4 and 7-2 on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Sophomore pitcher Jessica Hall was a force in the Bruins’ two wins.

“(Hall)’s on a roll. I love seeing her out there. She’s just going after batters, changing speeds, hitting her spots, and I’m excited to see her the rest of the season,” Camuso said.

With only one series left in the regular season, the Bruins hope to ride this momentum into the postseason.

“It was a big weekend. For us to win the series against Arizona is huge. I think that’s going to speak volumes to where we’re going for the next part of our season for postseason,” coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said.