OKLAHOMA CITY –  The Arizona Wildcats suffered their first loss of the 2019 postseason Friday night, falling to second-seeded UCLA 6-2 in a Women's College World Series winner's bracket game at Hall of Fame Stadium.
 
With the loss, Arizona will drop down to the lower part of the WCWS bracket and face the winner of Florida and Alabama on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m., MST. The loser will be eliminated from the WCWS, while the winner will advance to Sunday. The Cats lost despite two home runs from junior centerfielder Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza, who had her second multiple home run game of the season.
 
But the Bruins scored five runs over the final two innings to break a 1-1 tie and earn their second win of the season over Arizona to even up the season series at two games apiece.  
 
Like she did in the opener of the WCWS against Washington on Thursday, Arizona starting pitcher Taylor McQuillin was strong again at the open of the game. She fired a zero in the first when she got the first two outs on four pitches. After the next two batters reached on a single and a hit by pitch, McQuillin struck out fifth-place hitter Taylor Pack to end the inning.
 
An inning later, McQuillin worked a scoreless second, working a perfect inning, while getting a strike out, a ground out and a pop out.
 
In the third, she ran into trouble for the first time in the game, but got out of it with minimal damage with the help of her defense. The Bruins loaded the bases with one out on a single, a walk and an error. Rachel Garcia then lined one off McQuillin to right field where Hannah Martinez made a diving catch for the second out of the inning. A run scored on the play, but McQuillin struck the next batter out and got out of the inning with just one run allowed.
 
Arizona didn't waste any time pulling even on the scoreboard, thanks to the long ball. Palomino-Cardoza homered on the first pitch with one out in the third to tie the game at one. It was her 18^th home run of the season and the 53^rd of her career. Palomino-Cardoza now has homers in Regional play, Super Regionals and the WCWS this season. She's currently the only player in the country with homers in all three rounds.
 
The teams traded zeroes in the fourth and fifth innings, before the Bruins got the breathing room they were looking for in the later innings of the game. UCLA opened the sixth with a pinch-hit home run from Malia Quarles to make it 2-1.
 
The Wildcats nearly answered back in the bottom half of the inning. Malia Martinez led off the inning with her fourth double of the postseason, after having five the whole regular season. Dejah Mulipola was then hit by a pitch to put two on with no outs. After a sacrifice bunt from Rylee Pierce, the Cats had runners on second and third with one out. But a strike out and a foul out ended the threat and preserved UCLA's one-run lead.
 
In the seventh, the Bruins broke the game open with a four-run frame. The Bruins got an RBI double from Aaliyah Jordan and a sacrifice fly from Brianna Tautalafua to make it 4-1. UCLA scored its final two runs of the game on a two-run error to make it 6-1.
 
Palomino-Cardoza hit a solo home run with two outs in the seventh to close the gap to four, but that's as close as the Wildcats would get.
 
The Wildcats dropped to 48-13 on the season, while UCLA improved to 53-6. Arizona dropped to 62-33 all-time at the WCWS and 8-8 all-time against the Bruins at the WCWS.