Commanding victories mixed with narrow losses defined the Bruins’ weekend.

Despite falling to two ranked opponents, No. 4 UCLA softball (18-4) went 4-2 in the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, California, highlighted by a 2-1 defeat to No. 6 LSU (18-1) on Thursday and a 9-8 loss to No. 10 Arizona (21-2) in extra innings Saturday.

After falling to LSU, UCLA bounced back with three homers in a 7-2 victory over Notre Dame (10-10) that same afternoon.

UCLA then proceeded to rattle off three straight wins: a dominant 16-4 run-rule win against Utah (6-15) and a 6-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton (13-9) on Friday, before a second run-rule 26-5 toppling of Weber State (6-14) on Saturday. UCLA’s 26-run showing marked the second-highest single-game tally in program history.

But no matchup was more tightly contested than the Bruins’ tournament finale against the Wildcats.

Junior utility Megan Grant hammered a three-run shot to center, giving UCLA its first lead of the game at 5-2 in the top of the seventh. But the Wildcats loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning with one away.

Arizona catcher/utility Sydney Stewart hit a two-RBI single up the middle, and pitcher/infielder Devyn Netz tied the game on a sacrifice fly.

UCLA regained a one-run lead in the ninth after a fielding error by shortstop Tayler Biehl allowed sophomore pinch runner Kaitlyn Terry to score. But Terry, now on the mound, gave up an RBI single to utility Kaiah Altmeyer, allowing the automatic runner to tie the game.

Freshman infielder Kaniya Bragg put the Bruins ahead with a two-run homer in the 10th, but designated player Emily Schepp tied the game with a two-run blast of her own before a walk, sacrifice bunt and single set up a walk-off sacrifice fly from Altmeyer.

“Just a great battle,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “I’m very proud of so many things that we did well to be able to put ourselves in a position to win the game, and we’ve got to be able to close that out.”

UCLA’s pitchers against Arizona – Terry and junior right-hander Taylor Tinsley – conceded season-highs in hits, runs and wild pitches while striking out just five. The performance contrasted starkly with a staff that is third in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio and 13th in ERA.

Outside of the Bruins’ defeats to the Wildcats and Tigers, they beat the other four squads by a combined score of 55-13. The Bruins hit 11 home runs, drew 25 walks and knocked nine doubles across the four game stretch. And while UCLA fell in the bookends of the tournament, this is not indicative of its performance against top-ranked teams.

UCLA has proved itself time and again against the best teams in the country, winning seven of its eight matches against top-25 teams prior to the Judi Garman Classic.

“I scheduled very difficult intentionally, with a lot of tough teams so that we can play games like we did today (against Arizona),” Inouye-Perez said.

And while the Bruins fell to both ranked opponents this time around, coach Inouye-Perez said she is unfazed.

“There is no failure in the preseason,” Inouye-Perez said. “We’re going to figure out how to close out ball games because I have a very talented pitching staff. But we’re very young in the circle, so we’re going to learn a lot of lessons.”

Junior infielder Jordan Woolery, who had three home runs throughout the tournament, echoed her coach’s sentiments.

“Coach said it best. They don’t hand out trophies in February, so we’re taking that mindset into this next week and bouncing back and using it as fuel for the last week of tournament play.”