The Stanford softball team heads south to Los Angeles this weekend to take on UCLA in a three-game Pac-10 series.

The trip marks the first true road series of the year for the Card (24-7, 0-3 Pac-10) as it swings into the heart of the Pac-10 season.

The Cardinal is looking to rebound after a tough series against Arizona last weekend at home, where the Wildcats outscored the Cardinal by a margin of 16-1 in a three-game set.

Cardinal pitchers Ashley Chinn and Teagan Gerhart both had trouble handling the hard-hitting Cats, with Chinn recording her first loss of the season and Gerhart taking two losses in the circle.

The Cardinal offense also struggled mightily, only notching eight hits all weekend and recording just one hit in Friday’s game and two hits in Sunday’s contest.

Stanford’s schedule doesn’t get any easier this weekend against the Bruins, the 2010 national champions. The No. 6 Bruins are 27-5 so far this season, with their most recent victory being a 5-4 comeback win over Loyola Marymount on Wednesday.

UCLA is also riding an eight-game winning streak, including a three-game sweep of conference foe Oregon State.

Stanford and UCLA square off in the first game of the series on Friday at 7 p.m. at Easton Stadium.