The No. 6 Arizona softball team donned new blue jerseys for its doubleheader against Marshall, but the same ol’ team showed up at Hillenbrand Stadium last night in its non-conference finale.

As the case has been all season long, Arizona (23-8) again relied heavily on the long ball to get the job done as the Wildcats beat Marshall (12-20) in both contests, 9-1 in five innings in the first game and 11-5 in the night cap.

“”The easy part of the season is over now and we’ve got the Pac-10 season which is gonna be extremely difficult,”” said interim head coach Larry Ray. “”We’re just gonna have to have some better at-bats, make better adjustments and play better defense overall.””

In contrast to the majority of Wildcat games this season so far, Arizona also showed a bit of patience at the plate as they drew five walks in the first game and scored three runs in the first inning sans homers via third baseman Janae Leles’ two RBI double and an RBI-groundout from first baseman Laine Roth.

Leles drew a walk in the fourth which left the bases loaded and designated player Stacie Chambers capitalized as she belted the first pitch over the left-center field wall for a grand slam, providing the final margin of victory in game one.

The second game was only slightly different. Arizona fell behind after a leadoff home run by Marshall catcher Rachel Folden.

Not to be outdone, Chambers blasted a moon shot of her own – her second of the series – to right-center field in the second frame to knot the game at 1. Three batters later, catcher Calista Balko hammered to left-center field for a three-run homer to give Arizona the lead for good.

Game two starting pitcher Lindsey Sisk gave up back-to-back hits and was struggling to place the ball where she wanted in the fourth inning, so Ray opted to pull her for game one starter, Taryne Mowatt. The team’s ace came in and struck out Rodriguez to kill the potential fourth-inning threat, but struggled in the fifth frame as she walked two batters, hit one and allowed three runs.

The game was put well out of reach, however, before Marshall’s fifth-inning offensive outburst when Arizona put up six runs of its own, three courtesy of a Leles three-run bomb to center field.

“”Most of us are seeing the ball well, you just look for your pitch and sometimes a pitcher throws a mistake and you get it,”” Balko said. “”We’re pretty good about hitting a pitchers’ mistake.””

But Mowatt did her fair share to get the Wildcats two wins as she only allowed one hit, one walk and one run while striking out seven to earn the win in game one and notched another win in game two as she allowed three runs, four hits, walked three and hit two batters, in addition to fanning six in 3 1/3 innings of relief work.

Roth also continued her current hot streak in the doubleheader as she hit a home run in the fourth inning of the second game, the Wildcats’ fifth of the series. Roth has now gone deep in seven of her last ten games.

Arizona heads into Pacific 10 Conference play this weekend and knows it has to pick up its level of play if it hopes to have the same type of success as past seasons.

“”I think we just need to keep playing our game and playing the full seven innings with intensity,”” Leles said, “”and just staying strong and knowing we are the best and no one can beat us.””