After the No. 4 Arizona softball team fell from the top spot in the national rankings last week, the Wildcats showed no signs of fatigue this weekend against No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette in a three-game series sweep at Hillenbrand Stadium.
The Wildcats (29-3) completed nonconference play by outscoring the Ragin’ Cajuns (23-6) 21-3 on the weekend, culminating with yesterday’s 6-2 victory. The weekend included a run-rule ending of Saturday’s game, which Arizona won 10-1 in five innings, as well as a 5-0 win Friday.
Sophomore pitcher Taryne Mowatt (15-2), last week’s Pacific 10 Conference Pitcher of the Week, got the win in all three games of the series. Senior pitcher Leslie Wolfe made her first start of the season yesterday as senior ace Alicia Hollowell, still unable to pitch after being hit in the head by a line drive, watched from the bench.
“”I thought it was big for us to give Leslie some innings,”” Arizona head coach Mike Candrea said. “”I thought she did a really good job. They only hit one ball hard. We didn’t help her defensively, but it was a good start for her.””
The official line for Wolfe in three innings of work was two hits, one earned run, a walk and two strikeouts.
We had one little lull … and our energy was a little bit low, but other than that, I think we played a pretty good series.
– Mike Candrea,
softball head coach
“”I was a little bit nervous, but more, I just wanted to throw well and make sure my shoulder wouldn’t hurt too badly,”” Wolfe said. “”I felt good.””
Candrea told Wolfe to be ready for any action in the series on Friday, and on Saturday, the coach told her that she would be starting yesterday.
“”My goal was to try and get Leslie to go through the lineup at least once,”” Candrea said. “”In the fourth inning, it just felt like the right time to bring in Taryne.””
In Mowatt’s undefeated weekend, she compiled a 0.44 ERA, allowing just one earned run and striking out 26 in 16 innings pitched. She gave up only one extra base hit, a double in Saturday’s contest.
“”Every time you come out with a win, it feels good,”” Mowatt said. “”It also helped that our hitters were on fire this weekend.””
Ironwoman
A week after winning Pac-10 pitcher of the week honors, sophomore pitcher Taryne Mowatt made a strong bid for her second consecutive honor in filling in for injured ace Alicia Hollowell by quieting the Ragin’ Cajuns bats.
Candrea acknowledged that the Arizona bats came out strong in the series but pinpointed Mowatt’s performance.
“”Taryne had a hell of a weekend,”” Candrea said. “”That’s a pretty good hitting team and she did a great job of keeping them off balance and keeping the ball in the ballpark.””
Lafayette came into the weekend with a .343 team batting average and 57 home runs. In the series, however, the Cajuns hit only .171 along with no home runs.
Another standout performance for Arizona was the play of junior second baseman Chelsie Mesa.
Despite her two errors in yesterday’s game, one of which led to an unearned run, Mesa hit .636 (7-for-11) with a home run and five RBIs. Her combined slugging percentage and on-base percentage was a monstrous 1.849.
“”She swung the bat extremely well,”” Candrea said. “”I was very, very pleased with her. “”We had one little lull in the fifth or sixth inning (yesterday) where we kind of gave away some at-bats, and our energy was a little bit low, but other than that, I think we played a pretty good series.””
