There are bound to be peaks and valleys in a 56-game regular season.

And after a pair of nine-game Bruin win streaks plus a 7-3 record against top-25 teams, it seemed like a trough was due.

In its first trip to the Hawkeye state, No. 7 UCLA softball (29-5, 4-1 Big Ten) split its two-game series against Iowa (21-9, 3-1) at Bob Pearl Softball Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. The Bruins defeated the Hawkeyes 8-0 in run-rule fashion Saturday before falling 7-4 Sunday.

In game two, the Bruins were up 4-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, spearheaded by sophomore pitcher/outfielder Kaitlyn Terry’s five innings of two-run ball, where she struck out eight and walked just one.

But with Terry at 104 pitches, junior pitcher Taylor Tinsley entered the ballgame in relief. Despite striking out seven and giving up just three hits across five shutout innings the night before, Tinsley conceded four hits and five earned runs, giving Iowa a 7-4 lead entering the seventh.

While run prevention led to the Bruins’ Sunday loss, their bats left 11 on base – seemingly an anomaly for a team that ranks eighth in the nation for RBIs per game.

Despite the defeat to the Hawkeyes potentially unveiling holes in the Bruins’ game – including a reliance on the deep ball – the loss seems to be a minor hiccup in a typically arduous and long regular season, particularly as Saturday saw a different version of the Bruins.

Saturday was full of offensive fireworks and fanfare for UCLA. The Bruins scorched Hawkeye ace Jalen Adams – who entered the series with a 1.44 ERA – for 10 hits and eight runs. Junior utility Megan Grant led the attack with two hits that left the yard and four RBIs.

While the Bruins are hitting their most home runs per game since 2010 – when they won a national championship – coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said this is nothing new.

“It’s UCLA softball. It’s what we do,” Inouye-Perez said. “We recruit some very talented players to come and play, and we just graduated some very powerful players. But that’s one of the best things about UCLA softball: when the Maya Bradys and the Sharlize Palacioses of last year graduate, it creates another opportunity for other Bruins to be able to step up.”

Three Bruins recorded multi-hit days Saturday – Grant, junior utility Jordan Woolery and senior utility Savannah Pola. The trio of upperclassmen has been a mainstay for the Bruins all season, holding top three ranks in major offensive statistical categories including OPS, home runs and RBIs.

But they’re not just leading the team with their performances at the plate.

“Coach I. instilled in the program that the juniors are the ones who are going to lead by influence, lead by our communication,” Grant said. “All of us, from the people you see on the field to the people you don’t see, we have all stepped up as a class and, like, just taking on each and every one of our individual roles.”

While Woolery and Grant command the bats, Tinsley commands the pitching staff. The position group ranks 16th in ERA and helped secure a shutout against the Hawkeyes on Saturday. The staff also features two First-Team All-Pac-12 selections in Terry and Tinsley and the Gatorade National Player of the Year in freshman pitcher/utility Addisen Fisher.

“It’s awesome to have four great pitchers on the staff,” Tinsley said. “All of us are really close, and we really get each other. And it’s really nice to just have us continue to help each other and just talk about things. … We all support each other in the best ways.”