Aaliyah Jordan called game.

In her last regular-season game at Easton Stadium, the graduate student outfielder stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh in a tied game.

“This is my time,” said Jordan. “When I was in my slump, I was like, ‘It’s fine, they don’t need me right now. But when they do need me, I’ll be there.’ So, I was ready.”

No. 2 UCLA softball (50-4, 21-3 Pac-12) defeated San Diego State (32-15, 16-6 Mountain West) 4-3 in the nightcap of a doubleheader, ending its regular season with Jordan’s walk-off home run and securing win No. 50. The blue and gold beat Loyola Marymount (26-18, 11-1 WCC) by a score of 6-0 earlier in the afternoon behind redshirt senior pitcher Megan Faraimo’s five scoreless innings.

The opportunity for Jordan to be Friday night’s hero was almost for naught. The Bruins led 3-0 until the top of the sixth when Aztec outfielder Cali Decker tied the game with a three-run home run off of sixth-year pitcher Brooke Yanez, leaving UCLA to respond in the last two frames.

Until then, Faraimo, Yanez and graduate student Lauren Shaw had pitched a combined 12.2 shutout innings on the day. Freshman Taylor Tinsley also entered the game for two batters in the seventh against San Diego State.

Jordan said it was up to herself and her teammates to back up Shaw and the rest of the pitching staff in the batter’s box.

“I knew I had to get it done for Brooke,” Jordan said. “They (the pitchers) go out there and work their butts off. I know they’re giving it their all, so I just want to do it for them and get those runs back.”

In the opener of the doubleheader, the Bruins took off in the third inning with a five-spot kicked off by sophomore utility Savannah Pola’s go-ahead RBI single. From there, they didn’t let up.

Pola kept her hot streak going against the Aztecs in the evening, scoring the game’s first run on another single in the first inning.

Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said Pola’s return to form is an excellent sign for the team as it heads into postseason play. She added that Pola had shown maturity in her ability to work through her struggles and become a better player throughout the season.

“The game has a sick sense of humor,” Inouye-Perez said. “You can actually convince yourself that you’re slumping, but you have to work your way out and trust yourself. She came right back and put in the work.”

Pola said she feels better heading into the postseason, knowing she had found consistency at the plate.

“I didn’t feel as great as I usually would,” Pola said. “It feels good, getting to this point and the end of the season.”

Inouye-Perez said she felt similarly about Jordan’s walk-off home run against San Diego State, and to see Jordan come back after facing so much adversity over the past seasons – including two ACL tears – is a true culmination of the commitment she has made to the program.

After the game, Inouye-Perez said she took the team aside to mark the importance of Jordan’s at-bat.

“We all looked at each other and said, ‘Man, we’re gonna miss her,’” Inouye-Perez said. “I just want to enjoy every minute that we have together all the way through the rest of the season.”

UCLA will be back in action Thursday, when it will take on the winner of the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds in the quarterfinals of the inaugural Pac-12 softball tournament.