The No. 24 Arizona softball team fell to the University of Louisville 5-3 in Ulmer Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky on Wednesday, March 6. 

Arizona was set to play two games in Louisville but its first game against Miami University was canceled due to weather. 

The Wildcats’ game against the Cardinals started quickly. Louisville sent the Wildcats down in order, 1, 2, 3, in the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the first, Arizona sent out Miranda Stoddard as its starting pitcher.

Even though the Wildcats did not make as fast work as Lousiville did in the first inning, Arizona still completed the inning, allowing no runs and keeping the score 0-0. 

The Wildcats’ second inning went similarly to the first, with the first three batters retiring in order. However, in the bottom of the second inning, Louisville got the bats going, scoring 3 runs, forcing head coach Caitlin Lowe and first-year pitching coach Christian Conrad to sub in Aissa Silva to pitch the rest of the game.

After another quick three at-bats for the Wildcats and the defense giving up another run in the third inning, Arizona was able to flip the script in the fourth inning, scoring a run of their own and getting the first three Cardinals batters out in the bottom half of the inning. 

Even though the offense for the Wildcats was starting to come alive, Louisville’s offense was hard to stop as they hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth, making the game 5-1. 

In the top of the sixth inning, Arizona did have some life launched back into them as the senior from Kentucky, second baseman Allie Skaggs, launched a bomb to center field, scoring two runs for the Wildcats and bringing them within 2 runs of Louisville. 

In the top of the seventh inning, the Wildcats threw what they had left at Louisville, but it was not enough. They fell short, unable to score any more runs and lost 5-3.

Looking ahead: 

Arizona now travels to Corvallis, Oregon, to play its first Pac-12 conference series against Oregon State University from March 8-10. The Wildcats will then return home to play their first home conference series against the University of Washington from March 15-17.

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