Different team, same venue, same results.
The last time Arizona and Team USA head coach Mike Candrea brought a softball team to ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, the Wildcats took home the softball national championship trophy in June.
This time with Team USA, a squad that includes two 2006 Arizona champions in former pitcher Alicia Hollowell and senior center fielder Caitlin Lowe, Candrea and his squad won another title, this time the World Cup of Softball.
Team USA beat Japan 5-2 Monday to win the championship, finishing the event with a 6-0 record and having outscored their opponents 59-3 after Japan upset the Americans in the championship game last year. That was Team USA’s first loss in a major international competition in over a decade.
“”It feels so amazing to be here,”” Lowe said in a press release. “”Everyone was so pumped up to play Japan. I wanted to start the team on the right note, and I was really excited to be able to do that.””
Lowe hit .524 for the tournament with a team-high-tied 11 hits and team-high three steals.
Hollowell went 1-0 and pitched six scoreless innings, beating Japan 11-0 with a four-hit, five-inning mercy rule shut out Sunday.
Former Wildcat second baseman Lovie Jung hit a team-high .615 with two home runs and six RBIs, and former pitcher Jennie Finch didn’t allow a run in six innings of work.
“”We worked really hard to get here,”” Jung said in a press release. “”It was nice to come out and make a statement from what everyone was saying last year.””
Search for Del Conte’s replacement not begun
A search to replace Chris Del Conte, Arizona’s former senior associate director of athletics who accepted Rice’s vacant director of athletics position in late June, has yet to begin, according to an official within Arizona’s athletic department.
Del Conte succeeded the Owls’ Bobby May, who retired after 17 years at the helm of Rice Athletics. Del Conte oversaw all aspects of athletic fundraising during his six-plus years at Arizona.
Del Conte’s former boss, Arizona AD Jim Livengood, was unavailable for comment on a possible replacement.
Melancon nears deal with Yankees
Mark Melancon may soon find himself in a different set of pinstripes.
The junior closer is close to inking a deal with the New York Yankees, who drafted him in the ninth round of last month’s MLB Draft, according to Arizona head coach Andy Lopez.
“”He’s gonna sign,”” Lopez said last week. “”It’s not official, but I talked to Mark two days ago. He’s probably going to sign this week.
“”I wouldn’t be surprised if he signed (really soon).””
Terms of the deal weren’t available. Melancon joins fellow junior Jason Donald, a shortstop, in skipping his senior season.
-Ryan Casey
Former Cats bring home awards at ESPYS
LOS ANGELES – Former Arizona golfer Annika Sorenstam won her eighth ESPY Award by taking Female Athlete of the Year honors Wednesday in Los Angeles.
She was also nominated for Best Golfer, an award which Tiger Woods won.
Sorenstam won 10 LPGA tournaments in 2005, including two majors.
Also, former Wildcat and current New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi won the Comeback Athlete of the Year award.
Bruschi, who suffered a stroke in 2005 and announced he would sit out the entire season, came back to play for the Patriots last year.
Neither athlete attended the ESPYS or were available for comment.
