Glenn Connelly / Assistant Photo Editor

After matching UCLA punch-for-punch through seven innings, the San Diego State softball team finally delivered a blow to the No. 4 Bruins in the top of the eighth.

Freshman utility Felicia Reifschneider scored on a UCLA fielding error, and then junior outfielder Katy Erickson scored an insurance run a few pitches later.

But the two runs weren’t enough. The Bruins tied it up in the bottom of the eighth and then took their final at-bat in the bottom of the ninth and delivered the knockout punch to No. 25 SDSU with a grand slam, picking up a 6-2 victory Sunday night at Easton Stadium in Los Angeles.

“We were going back and forth and I thought we had it when we were up by two runs in the eighth inning, but that’s why they’re UCLA, that’s why they’re tough because they come back and fight,” senior catcher Erin Floros said. “They just outplayed us in that aspect and it’s frustrating, but we learned from it. I hope we learn from it.”

The Aztecs had opportunities, though, but they were unable to take advantage of them. In the top of the fifth, a single by Floros and two errors by UCLA helped load the bases with no outs. First baseman Monica Alnes came up to bat and the redshirt junior was looking to bring home junior outfielder Stefanie Quichocho-Rosario with a sacrifice fly. Alnes succeeded in her sacrifice fly attempt and Quichocho-Rosario appeared to make it home safely. The Bruins appealed the call, though, and the third-base umpire said Quichocho-Rosario left third early and was called out.

Without the run, SDSU needed to fend off UCLA’s bats, and it did so using great pitching from freshman Bailey Micetich.

Micetich pitched five scoreless innings and held the Bruins to four hits.

“I felt totally different in that game, I was more focused, more relaxed, more in tune with my pitching, I just felt more comfortable,” said Micetich, who walked just one batter and struck out another. “It sucked that it turned out that way, but I felt good, I felt normal, because in the other games, I was anxious and I was nervous and I was just really tense. When we played UCLA, I finally calmed down and got into my groove.”

On Saturday, the Aztecs (2-2) started things off with a 5-4 win against Pacific for their ninth straight season-opening victory behind a two-run single in the sixth inning from Floros.

Later in the day against Cal Poly, Floros saved the day again with a walkoff single in the bottom of the seventh for the 4-3 victory.

“I just wanted to get her in,” Floros said of the seventh inning situation. “I was pretty confident out there because you kind of have to be in that situation, you just have to tell yourself you’re going to get that base hit to score that girl, but I was pretty determined up there and wanted to get the hit through or just do something to either get the runner to third or just get her in, any way I could.”