TUCSON — When the pressure was on, Maya Brady delivered. Not once, but twice.

With back-to-back home runs, the redshirt junior utility provided evidence for why she was recently crowned the Pac-12’s Player of the Year and batting champion.

Miles from Easton Stadium, No. 1 seed UCLA softball (51-4, 21-3 Pac-12) defeated No. 8 seed Arizona (29-25, 6-18) with a final score of 4-3 on Thursday. Facing off at their opponent’s stadium, the Bruins entered the quarterfinals of the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament as the home team – though the roaring navy and cardinal-clad crowd indicated otherwise.

Before the Bruins could find their rhythm in the top of the second inning, a collision between the second base umpire and redshirt senior utility Anna Vines resulted in a three-way shift in positions. Immediately afterward, an RBI double from Arizona utility Kaiah Altmeyer put the first score on the board.

For a different team, the switch may have resulted in a loss of momentum. But coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said she prepared her team to make such adjustments.

“​​The fortunate thing for me as a coach is to have depth and to have athleticism, and we’ve been practicing it all year and for moments like this,” Inouye-Perez said.

If redshirt senior pitcher Megan Faraimo’s pitching was a puzzle, Wildcat batters seemed to solve it almost as quickly as they did the last time the Bruins were in town. While Arizona outfielder Dakota Kennedy struck out swinging in her first at-bat, the freshman hit a double during her second go.

By the third inning alone, seven Wildcats reached base. Faraimo may have sent the top three batters away to close the top of the first, but the second and third saw a total of three doubles and two singles from Arizona, compounded by a walk and hit batter. Her outing finished with a three-run allowance, the same number as her last appearance in Tucson.

When it came to dual-threat Devyn Netz, the Bruins were slow to return the favor. The Arizona pitcher prevented eight UCLA batters in a row from touching base spanning the first and third innings, in between blasting an RBI double to bolster the Wildcats’ run total once again.

Despite Netz’s control in the circle, Brady said she was able to capitalize from the plate.

“Devyn’s an amazing pitcher, so I think her changeup was extremely efficient against us,” Brady said. “But once I saw that pitch, I really wasn’t going to miss that opportunity.”

Both teams’ rosters comprised all of the Pac-12’s all-conference individual honorees, making for a star-studded matchup. It was amid a drought from UCLA’s offense that utility Allie Skaggs turned things up for the Wildcats, departing from her Defensive Player of the Year award to notch one more run for Arizona.

And Brady isn’t the only one whose long balls flew in Tucson – in the fifth inning, the Arizona lead was short-lived after freshman utility Megan Grant answered the call with a solo home run of her own.

In response to her recent accolades, Brady credited her performance to her surroundings.

“My season is truly a product of my teammates,” Brady said. “They push me every day – this coaching staff pushes me every day. … It’s an honor to wear this uniform. I’m just so lucky.”

Grant was the epitome of efficiency at the plate, going 4-for-4 in the game. And the Bruins were able to take home the win despite notching two fewer hits than their opponents.

In the single-elimination format, Grant said she is focusing on the excitement of the stakes rather than the pressure of them.

“This is what we wanted – this is what we build up to,” Grant said.

UCLA will continue its run in Tucson on Friday against the winner of No. 4 seed Stanford and No. 5 seed Oregon, with first pitch in the semifinal set for 7:30 p.m.