Cathedral City, Calif. - In its Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic finale, the Pacific Softball team dropped a 9-1 decision in five innings to the No. 8/7 UCLA Bruins. Pacific opened up the scoring in the third inning, but UCLA rallied past the Orange and Black in the bottom of the frame.

In the top of the first inning, senior Sara Anderson led off the contest with an infield single against Selina Ta'amilo (6-1), but the Tigers stranded a runner as Ta'amilo struck out senior Nicole Zapotoczny and sophomore Sydney Lahners to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first, freshman Kenya Lindstrom (1-1) took the circle and allowed a single off the bat of Allexis Bennett. The next hitter, Kylee Perez, flew out to center field and Bennett was caught off the first base bag for a double play. Two errors in the frame loaded the bases for Delaney Spaulding, but Lindstrom induced a fielder's choice grounder to end the Bruin threat.

A Brink single with one out in the second was stranded in the second, but in the bottom of the inning, Lindstrom shut down UCLA with a three-up, three-down frame. In the top of the third, junior Toni Santos reached on an infield single to start the third inning and immediately took second on an illegal pitch by Ta'amilo. Anderson followed with a single up the middle, her second of the contest, scoring Santos and giving Pacific a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Bennett singled to shortstop to open up the frame against Lindstrom and advanced to second on an error. The next hitter, Perez launched a homer to right center to give UCLA the lead at 2-1. A Spaulding single in the frame chased Lindstrom from the game, as junior Marissa Young took over in the circle, with Pacific now trailing 3-1.  Young recovered to strike out Zoe Shaw to end the threat with the bases loaded.

Ta'amilo pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the fourth, and UCLA again rallied in the bottom of the inning, with the effort capped by a Spaulding grand slam that gave the Bruins an 8-1 advantage.

In the top of the fifth, Santos tapped a one-out single and Anderson walked, putting two runners on board for pinch hitter Taylor Covington. Ta'amilo struck out Covington and Zapotoczny to end the inning. Megan Walters opened up the fifth inning and UCLA promptly got two runners on base without an out recorded in the inning. With runners on the corners and no out, Perez stepped up and rapped a single to center field, scoring the ninth run of the contest, sending UCLA to a 9-1, run-rule shortened victory.

Ta'amilo struck out eight in her sixth win of the season, surrendering two walks and five hits.

Pacific now returns home for the Libby Matson Tournament, starting with a 2:30 pm matchup with Purdue. For full tournament information, be sure to visit the tournament central page here.

For the latest on the Pacific Softball program, be sure to follow @PacificSoftball on Twitter and Instagram.