OKLAHOMA CITY – They just couldn’t overcome the long wait.

Because the previous game ran so long, the Wildcats had to wait an hour and 47 minutes after their scheduled start of 8 p.m. local time to kick off the nightcap of the opening day of the Women’s College World Series at Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame Stadium. But they didn’t let that be the excuse for a 1-0 loss to UCLA Thursday night.

“”I don’t think it was a big factor,”” said UA starting pitcher Taryne Mowatt. “”You still have to be ready to play. I mean, yeah we were sitting around for a while but we know what we need to do to come out and play our best game and I think we maybe weren’t as excited in the first inning as we should have been.””

The Bruins said they weren’t fazed by the wait, either.

“”I don’t notice that stuff,”” said UCLA center fielder Katie Schroeder of the delay.

But it sure didn’t seem that way.

UA left fielder Brittany Lastrapes hit a popup to left field but UCLA’s Krista Colburn dropped the ball to allow Lastrapes to safely get under a throw to second base.

In the bottom half of the opening inning, Schroeder got to second after she slapped the ball to Mowatt (29-14)in the circle and she threw the ball over first baseman Laine Roth’s head.

“”It was too far inside the baseline and that’s basically the only exciting thing that happened in this game,”” Mowatt said about 20 minutes after the game. “”It was a bad throw, it was a hit and if I don’t make that error, we’re probably still scoreless going into the 10th or 11th inning. We just, I guess, have to play better defense.””

Added Schroeder: “”It was kind of right at her so I’m surprised she made an error. But she did have a bunch of time because when a ball’s hit right at you – but that happens I guess.””

Second baseman Amanda knocked Schroeder in with an RIB single. The next batter, designated player Megan Langenfeld, got on base after third baseman Jenae Leles bobbled a grounded.

“”It’s part of the game,”” said UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez of the five errors in the game – three by UCLA. “”I think you come out aggressive with a lot of adrenaline and instantly both sides were tested. … But I don’t think it was the waiting that caused it.””

Arizona managed to muster up three hits in the game to UCLA’s two but couldn’t get past UCLA started Anjelica Selden (18-2).

“”She’s a good pitcher but I think we made her look a lot better than she was throwing,”” said UA catcher Callista Balko. “”I think we could have made some better adjustments … especially with her dropball.””

The closest the Wildcats came was in the fifth inning when Leles hit a shot to deep left field that was caught at the warning track.

The modest Selden gave all the credit to her catcher, Jen Schroeder.

UA interim head coach Larry Ray said his team will “”step away from the game for a while,”” on Friday, though the team is scheduled to have a practice at noon. The Wildcats certainly won’t have the time they did on Thursday morning when they visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.

With the loss to UCLA (34-3), which Arizona (41-17) beat once in three meetings during the regular season, Arizona moves into the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament. The No. 7 seed Wildcats will face No. 3 seed Alabama on Saturday. The No. 2 seed Bruins take on No. 6 ASU on Friday.

“”The (Pacific 10 Conference) is such a great conference,”” Inouye-Perez said. “”There’s different styles of play. There’s different strengths. And we all know that playing in the Pac-10 prepares us for postseason.””

Extra Bases:

Last year Arizona was scheduled to play against Tennessee at 8 p.m. local time, but due to a lengthy rain delay, the game didn’t start until 11:23 local time. The game concluded at 1:28 a.m.

“”It’s not good to be in the losers’ bracket this early but it’s not anything we can’t overcome,”” Mowatt said. “”Look at last year. I think we did better as our backs were against the wall and we’re not out of it until we lose one more game and we have a whole week ahead of us. We plan on staying this entire week.”” …

Mowatt’s five strikeouts tied a 2008 postseason low for the senior. …

UCLA’s three errors marked its second-highest total on the year, with its highest being four errors in a 7-5 win over UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 9. …

Thursday’s attendance for the day over four games was 11,845. The attendance for the first two games of the day was 6,240, setting a WCWS record.