Wrapping up a tournament season filled with adversity, the Bruins are set to start Pac-12 conference play with a clean slate.

No. 18 UCLA softball (11-6) will face Utah (14-6) in its first conference series of the season from Friday to Sunday at Easton Stadium.

Redshirt senior outfielder Janelle Meoño said the team is focusing on what it can control and slowing the game down to take each moment pitch by pitch.

“They see us three days in a row, and we see them three days in a row, so it gets gutsy,” Meoño said. “We can’t think about the other team too much, we just got to do what we do best.”

With the end of preseason tournament play comes a change of pace, as the Bruins will be transitioning from playing five games each weekend to three across three days.

Friday’s game will be the first showdown of the season between the Bruins and the Utes. The Bruins lead the all-time series 32-5, but the last time the two teams faced each other, Utah defeated UCLA by a score of 7-4 to claim the 2023 Pac-12 tournament title, kicking off a three-game skid that ended with the Bruins falling out of the NCAA Los Angeles Regional.

“It’s a big change to the schedule,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “We can lock on, we can prepare. We’re going to be facing the same opponent three days in a row, so it’s a whole different style from just grinding through the preseason with a lot of adversity.”

Inouye-Perez added that the team has learned to fight as it faced challenges throughout the preseason with inconsistent lineups, early injuries and developing a brand new pitching staff.

Last weekend, the Bruins scored five or more runs in four out of the five games they played at the Judi Garman Classic. Replicating their offensive performance will be crucial in the battle against Utah, as its roster includes senior pitchers Sarah Ladd and Mariah Lopez.

On Sunday, Ladd pitched a perfect game against Utah Tech. The following day, Lopez – the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player – set a new career high with fifteen strikeouts against Utah Tech. While the Utes boast success in the circle, the Bruins are coming together offensively, said junior utility Taylor Stephens.

“We’ve been faced with so much adversity this season, and it’s just the beginning. But no matter what, we have this relentless pursuit to refuse to lose more than we want to win,” Stephens said.

Stephens launched her first home run of the season last weekend against Weber State, pinch hitting for redshirt senior infielder Seneca Curo.

The junior said she finds pressure to be a privilege, adding that she and the other pinch hitters on the team always hype each other up and are prepared for when they get called up to the batting lineup.

“We get to wipe the slate clean and take everything that we’ve learned and start all over again as we start conference play,” Inouye-Perez said.