Throughout the series against UCLA, Oregon softball has struggled to bring home runners in scoring position, and Sunday’s 6-2 loss was no different.

Oregon held UCLA scoreless in the middle five innings and had ample opportunity to take control of the game. The 10 stranded runners allowed UCLA to stay in it.

The Ducks shut out the Bruins on Friday but dropped game two 7-4 on Saturday. The Ducks haven’t won a series against the Bruins since 2018. With the loss on Sunday, they are still looking for their first series win of the Pac-12 season.

Stevie Hansen started on the mound for Oregon. A hot start for UCLA that featured three hits and two runs scored gave it an early lead. Morgan Scott came in relief for Hansen in the second.

KK Humphreys started the second with a lead-off triple. Vallery Wong hit a single up the middle to score Humphreys for the Ducks’ first run. 

Oregon tied the game in the third. Allee Bunker hit a solo homer to left-center that forced a UCLA pitching change.

The Bruins threatened with runners in scoring position in the fourth. Stellar defense and a Scott strikeout allowed the Ducks to exit the inning safely.

Oregon had another chance to take the lead at the bottom of the fourth. Two consecutive batters got hit by pitches to turn the order over. The bases were loaded following a base hit, but the Ducks weren’t able to score the runners.

Scott held the Bruins scoreless through five straight innings. In the seventh though, they scored their first runs against Scott in the series. Back-to-back homers and an RBI single gave them four runs in the inning.

Raegan Breedlove entered in relief for Scott. She held UCLA scoreless for the remainder of the inning but it was too late. The Ducks could not get a hit in the bottom of the seventh and ended up dropping the series.

The Ducks will travel north to Corvallis next weekend to play Oregon State. The series starts Friday at 6 p.m.