While Arizona students traveled to vacation hotspots, lounged on the beach or enjoyed the peace of mind from a clear schedule during spring break, the No. 7 softball team had a full slate of games on its plate.

Though it would appear the lack of school and work would make it easier on the Wildcats (21-8) during its stretch of nine games, the results from their schedule weren’t as good as they would have probably hoped for, as they went 6-3 over the past week.

Two of Arizona’s three losses came as quite the disappointment, as it fell to Texas-El Paso in a doubleheader Tuesday in El Paso and lost to Cal State-Fullerton in the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton,
Calif. Saturday to close out the spring break schedule. The Wildcats’ only other loss was to No. 6 Michigan, as they fell 2-0 to a Wolverine squad backed by a two-hit shutout from pitcher Nikki Nemetz.

“”We wanted to use (spring break) as an opportunity to get ready for the upcoming Pac-10 season and we faced a variety of competition and sometimes we met the challenge and sometimes we didn’t,”” said Arizona interim head coach Larry Ray. “”I was a little disappointed with the (UTEP) split and the way we approached the (Cal State-Fullerton game) but it was all a learning experience moving forward.””

Arizona got off to a good start as it swept New Mexico in a two-game series March 14 and 15 before splitting its two-game doubleheader series at UTEP March 18, setting the table for the Garman Classic.

The Wildcats’ offense exploded to open the classic, as they beat DePaul 11-0 in seven innings Thursday and Florida State 13-2 Friday before the loss to the Wolverines in the second game of a doubleheader.

Arizona beat Louisiana-Lafayette 2-0 on Saturday before eventually falling to the
Titans later that day.

“”I thought we were capable of winning at least four of the five games (in the Garman Classic),”” Ray said. “”Michigan was a fairly evenly matched game but they were fortunate enough to come up with the big hit in the sixth inning, but in the Fullerton game we kind of went through the motions.

“”It is always nice when you don’t have to worry about academics and you get to concentrate on just the games,”” Ray added. “”…We have answered questions but we still have some that need to be addressed.””