The No. 7 University of Arizona softball team (22-4) went 1-2 against the University of Central Florida (19-7-1). The Wildcats played the Knights at home at Hillenbrand Stadium from Friday, March 7 to Sunday, March 9. The Cats lost the first two games but finished the string of games strong on Sunday with a 10-1 win against the Knights.
Day 1 – Friday, March 7 at 6 p.m.
Arizona fell to UCF 9-3 to open the series. The Knights held a 3-0 lead in the second inning. They earned 2 runs on a fielding error and another on a solo homer.
Arizona pitcher Devyn Netz delivered a solo home run, her sixth of the season, in the bottom of the second inning. The third inning would be silent for both sides, but in the fourth UCF was able to launch another homer past right field to build a 4-1 lead.
The Wildcats put up a fight in the sixth. Kaiah Altmeyer swung and launched a solo home run, her third homer of the season, past left field. Dakota Kennedy found another scoring opportunity, making it home off a UCF pitching error to bring the Wildcats back in fighting distance at 4-3.
UCF ran away with the lead in the top of the seventh, having an absolute heyday at the plate. From home runs to big hits, UCF found their lead and grasped it, scoring 5 runs in the seventh and quickly putting the game out of Arizona’s hands.
Along with her solo home run, Netz pitched four innings and struck out four batters. Saya Swain relieved her for 2.2 innings, allowing 2 runs and one hit. Aissa Silva came to the pitcher’s mound in the bottom of the seventh to close out the matchup. Unfortunately, Silva came face to face with the UCF offense, allowing 3 runs and three hits.
Day 2 – Saturday, March 8 at 4 p.m.
Game 2 was yet another loss for the Wildcats as they both lost the lead and failed to catch up, losing the matchup 5-4.
The game started with a strong showing from the Wildcats. An Altmeyer RBI double in the first inning and a Tayler Biehl solo home run in the second gave the Wildcats an early 2-0 lead.
UCF would follow up with a 2-run home run, tying the game in the top of the third inning. Arizona followed up immediately with Netz scoring a solo home run. The back-and-forth continued as UCF once again answered back in the next inning to tie the game 3-3 off a fielding error.
Arizona struggled in the later innings as UCF managed to take the lead with a 2-run homer in the fifth, giving the Knights a 5-3 lead.
The only answer from the Wildcats came from a hit by Emily Schepp, allowing a runner to get home in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Arizona made three pitching changes in the first four innings, with Netz pitching a majority of the game. UCF was able to get off 15 hits compared to Arizona’s 10.
Another problem contributing to the 5-4 loss came from Arizona’s struggle to send runners home after making it to base.
Day 3 – Sunday, March 9 at 10 a.m.
Arizona was much more ferocious in Game 3 of its outing against UCF.
Firing first and fast was Kennedy with a solo home run, her second of the season. Following her came Jenna Sniffen with a 2-RBI double and a fielding error, giving Arizona an early 4-0 lead in just the first inning.
Magic came in the bottom of the second inning as the Wildcats extended their lead by 6 runs. The first two came from a bases-loaded situation where the pitcher walked both Netz and Sydney Stewart after hitting both batters.
A Miranda Stoddard RBI put her at first and left one runner at third. This was perfect timing for Sniffen to come back and hit an impressive ground ball on the left field line, allowing two runners to make it home. Arizona’s final score would come from a Biehl RBI single, putting the score at 10-0.
UCF’s only answer in the game was at the top of the third inning with a solo home run to right field.
The fourth and fifth innings would be scoreless, and Arizona won by mercy rule.
Although pitching was a problem throughout the weekend, Ryan Maddox had a consistent and crushing performance in the final game of the series, pitching all five innings and allowing only four hits throughout the entire game.
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