Georgia softball will be fighting to keep its World Series hopes alive once again tonight.

The Bulldogs fell to UCLA by an 8-0 count in six innings in the opening game of the best-of-three NCAA Tournament Super Regional in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

It sets up an elimination game for Georgia at 10 p.m. tonight (TV:, ESPN2) with the team’s season hopes on the line against a Bruins team that has won 12 in a row.

“We’ll have to settle in and play Georgia Softball,” Third-year Georgia coach Tony Baldwin said. “Scrap, fight, find a way’ is what we do, and we’ll have to do that a little bit better … "

The Bulldogs had to come off the mat and win two elimination games last Sunday after a much-less heralded Liberty team beat them 7-3 on Saturday in Athens.

This veteran Georgia team started the season winning 16 of its first 17, including a 7-2 win over UCLA in Clearwater, Fla.

The Bulldogs faded, however, as the season progressed into a .500 record in SEC play. UCLA, meanwhile, improved as the season wore on.

The No. 6-seeded Bruins (41-10) became just the second team to shutout -- and run-rule -- the No. 11-seeded Bulldogs (43-18) this season.

Georgia managed just four hits on Thursday night as Dallis Goodnight, Jayda Kearney, Sydney Kuma and Emily Digby reached base.

“I thought [UCLA pitcher Kaitlyn Terry] came right at us as we expected, and I feel like we missed a lot of good pitches to hit,” Baldwin said. “Certainly, she deserved credit for that with the stuff that she has.”

The Bruins got to Georgia’s ace starter Lilli Backes (18-7) for six runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

“I think we just need to execute better,” Baldwin said. “There wasn’t anything that happened today that we weren’t prepared for or capable of executing.

“There were some plays we had the opportunity to make on defense, and we didn’t make them.”