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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

    Softball Notes

    One is a lonely number, so senior pitcher Alicia Hollowell decided to make it two straight Pacific 10 Pitcher of the Week honors for her work last weekend.

    “”There’s a lot of good pitchers in the Pac-10,”” Hollowell said. “”I go out there and mix up my pitches and use them all.””

    Hollowell (6-0, 0.00 ERA) has pitched 39 shutout innings this season to lower her career ERA to 0.83.

    “”Alicia works very well and works hard at this game, …(she) does a great job preparing and has great skills,”” Arizona head coach Mike Candrea said. “”Success usually comes with people who put the time and effort in. I am not surprised that she has started this good.””

    Hollowell is already the Wildcats’ all-time leader in strikeouts and innings pitched. She needs only six more wins to break Wildcats assistant coach Nancy Evans’ total wins record of 124.

    “”I’m just worried about the team as a whole winning, and for me personally the records don’t really matter,”” Hollowell said.

    Sophomore pitcher Taryne Mowatt said that Hollowell is a true professional on the field.

    “”She’s helped my confidence more than my pitching because we have two very different styles,”” she said. “”But just watching her and how she carries herself out there on the field teaches me how I need to carry myself.””

    Junior second baseman Chelsie Mesa recalled an at-bat against the native of Suisin, Calif.

    “”I remember the first time I hit against Hollowell it was like wow,”” she said.

    Movin’ on up

    For the first time this season, the Wildcats (11-0) are ranked No. 1 in the nation.

    The undefeated Wildcats garnered 17 first place votes and 497 total points to edge out No. 2 Tennessee. They have been ranked No. 1 at least once during the season for the past 14 years, and are one of only five teams this season still undefeated in the top 25.

    Many players said they are not surprised by this hot start.

    “”The season so far is going well, but it’s just the start,”” Mowatt said. “”It’s a long season. So far so good. We have a good solid group of talented players, and we expect to win every time we go out there.””

    Mesa said it has not been a cakewalk to the top.

    “”It was nice knowing that we beat some pretty high ranked teams out there and we had to work for it, not just blowing everybody out,”” Mesa said.

    Candrea said he knows that the season is still young and his team has several areas they need to improve in.

    “”We swung the bats well the first weekend, but this last weekend we left a few runners on base,”” he said. “”Got some work to do this weekend.””

    The Wildcats travel to Palm Springs, Calif. this weekend to play in the Palm Springs Classic against Texas Tech, No. 8 Texas A&M, Maryland, Ohio State and No. 4 Texas.

    – Dmitry Rashnitsov

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