Arizona’s pitching staff is back up to two.
Despite having soreness in her right shoulder, Arizona starting pitcher Sarah Akamine got the nod in the nightcap as the No. 2 softball team (16-3) rolled to 7-3 victory, capping last night’s doubleheader sweep of Creighton at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Akamine, who did not pitch in last weekend’s series against Missouri or the exhibition series against Pima Community College and Phoenix Community College Feb. 28, threw seven innings, striking out six, while giving up three runs.
“”I feel like I have a lot of room for improvement,”” Akamine said. “”Through that game (my shoulder) hurt pretty bad, but I just thought about the next pitch. The team helped me a lot by getting those runs.””
In the first game the Wildcats defeated the Bluejays 6-2 behind a solid performance by Arizona starting pitcher Taryne Mowatt (10-3), who allowed two runs and struck out 12 in seven innings of work.
Mowatt walked nine and allowed seven runs Sunday against Missouri, having to pitch with blisters while being the only pitcher available.
“”You have to give (Taryne Mowatt) a lot of credit for what she has done over this weekend,”” Candrea said.
Mowatt earned her fourth victory in as many games, while not allowing a walk the entire contest.
“”It’s tough to come out here every day and have to pitch my greatest, but it’s what I came here to do,”” Mowatt said. “”(Tonight) was nothing great, just OK. I am hoping to have better performances.””
Mowatt gave up a solo home run to Tucson native TJ Eadus to lead off the top of the second inning, but the Wildcats regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning after K’Lee Arredondo and Adrienne Acton both posted RBI singles.
Chelsie Mesa led off the third inning with a home run and Kristie Fox hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning, her sixth of the year, to put the game away.
The Wildcats struck first in the second game as Janae Leles hit a line drive over the right-center field wall on a full count pitch, scoring shortstop Fox to give Arizona an early 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third inning centerfielder Caitlin Lowe led things off with a single before stealing her 10th base in five games. Mesa then hit an RBI double, extending her hitting streak to 16 games after a single in the first game lengthened it to 15.
“”Chelsie is seeing the ball well and you can tell,”” said Arizona head coach Mike Candrea. “”Every time she is up at the plate I feel like she is going to hit the ball hard somewhere, and that’s a great feeling.””
Lowe drove her first homerun in 39 games – dating back to April 30 – over the right-center field wall, giving the Wildcats a 6-0 advantage in the fourth inning.
“”I am feeling pretty good,”” Lowe said. “”I think we did a good job of hitting good pitches but I think we need to be a little more open to hitting the pitcher’s pitches. I think we did a great job of coming out and being able to score runs when we need to, but we need to make sure we put teams away.””
Extra bases
The Arizona State Legislature will honor the 2006 Wildcats, the NCAA Champions, this afternoon at the Arizona House of Representatives and the Arizona State Senate before hitting the road for a three-game set at Baylor over the weekend.
