The Arizona softball team was at home from Friday, April 28, to Sunday, April 30, playing a three-game series against Oregon State University. The Wildcats looked to break their 13-game conference losing streak, which had them locked in last place in the Pac-12 conference. 

Game 1: Friday, April 28, at 6 p.m.

On day one of the three-game series, Arizona sent Devyn Netz to the circle as the starting pitcher. She faced OSU’s Ellie Garcia, who had a pitching record of 4-7. 

OSU jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second when Kaiea Higa hit a solo home run. OSU added to their lead in the top of the third inning with 4 more runs, two of which came from another OSU home run from Abby Doerr. 

The Wildcats were finally able to get some offense going in the bottom of the fourth inning after Paige Dimler hit a 3-run home run to left field. With the game close, both teams scored 1 run in the fifth inning, making the score 6-4. 

The Wildcat offense was unable to produce any more runs, unlike the OSU offense, who put up 3 more in the top of the seventh. 

Arizona lost game one 9-4 and only produced five total hits all game. 

Game 2: Saturday, April 29, at 6 p.m.

With a loss in game one, Arizona came back out against OSU for game two where Ali Blanchard was sent to the circle as the starting pitcher. She faced OSU’s Tarni Stepto.

Unlike the previous game, the Wildcats took the early lead by scoring 1 run in the bottom of the first. OSU responded in the top of the second, however, with 2 runs of their own. 

Arizona took a full inning to answer, scoring 2 runs and reclaiming the lead in the bottom of the third inning when Dakota Kennedy hit a 2-run home run to right field. 

After an Arizona pitching change to Netz, Arizona gave up 1 more run in the top of the fourth inning on a solo home run by OSU. With a tied ball game in the top of the fifth inning, the Wildcats got some much-needed hits to advance runners around the bases and score 3 runs to close the game.

The Wildcats got the win 6-3 on nine hits and no errors, snapping the 14-game conference losing streak. Head softball coach Caitlin Lowe said scoring in the first inning was a big part of the Wildcats’ win. 

“Tonight they were just relentless. They just kept pushing and pushing and we could have had a bunch more hits but they just didn’t care, so I was just proud of them,” Lowe said.  

Game 3: Sunday, April 30, at 12 p.m.

On the last day of the series with OSU, Arizona sent Sydney Somerndike out as the starting pitcher. She faced OSU’s Stepto, who took the loss to the Wildcats the night before. 

Riding the coattails of their win from the night before, the Wildcats again opened the game with a single run in the bottom of the first inning, taking the lead early. With their defense drilling through the OSU offense each inning, Arizona extended their lead in the bottom of the third, scoring 3 more runs. One of the runs came from an OSU error with bases loaded. OSU had a play at the plate, but their catcher, Des Rivera, never made contact with home plate when catching the ball, allowing Jasmine Perezchica to score. 

Kennedy also got her second home run of the weekend in the bottom of the fourth inning, this time coming in the form of a solo home run to right field. 

OSU finally found some offense in the top of the fifth when Doerr also hit her second home run of the weekend, making the score 5-2. Allie Skaggs answered OSU’s scoring and added to Arizona’s lead in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run to left center field. 

Even though OSU scored another run in the top of the seventh inning it was not enough and the Wildcats took game three of the series, winning 6-3 again. 

“We felt like we were working our way up. We’re climbing and I think we’ve hit a peak and we’re just going to keep going up,” Kennedy said after the game. 

Arizona is now 27-22 overall and 5-16 in conference play. The Wildcats take on the University of California Berkeley at home in the last three-game series of the season starting on Friday, May 5, at Mike Candrea Field at Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium. 

Lowe said preparing for the last series of the season will be no different, and she hopes to have another great week of practice leading up to the series like they did this past week. 

“We’ll do our best to get ready for whoever they have on staff and just play our game on the weekend instead of anybody else’s,” Lowe said.