The No. 10 University of Arizona softball team (29-5) won their lone matchup against GCU (23-6) 7-3 in Phoenix, Ariz. at GCU Softball Stadium and went 2-1 in their series against Arizona State University (23-10) in Tempe, Ariz. at Farrington Stadium. The Wildcats took on the Lopes on Wednesday, March 19, then faced the Sun Devils from Friday, March 21 to Sunday, March 23. Arizona aimed to maintain control throughout the weekend but fell just short of a series sweep, losing to ASU on Sunday, 3-2.
vs. GCU – Wednesday, March 19 at 7 p.m.
In what looked to be a low scoring Arizona win, the Wildcats would struggle to defeat Grand Canyon until the eighth inning.
Arizona scored first in the third inning. A hit by Regan Shockey sent third-base runner, Tayler Biehl, home.
The last two innings contained most of the scoring action in the game. Miranda Stoddard hit a solo home run to bump up the lead to 2-0 in the seventh inning.
GCU would answer back with a two-run home run tying the game and extending the game to one more inning.
This is when the Wildcats got to work. Biehl would hit a triple sending advancing Zaedi Tagalog. GCU made an error sending Biehl back home increasing their advantage to 4-2. A Devyn Netz single sent another two runners home followed by another GCU error.
This gave Arizona a 5-run lead and would be the last time they needed to score. GCU’s follow-up would be a singular run making the final score 7-3
The pitching team was sensational. Stoddard threw four scoreless innings with only one hit. Aissa Silva stepped in to pitch the fifth and kept the Lopes scoreless. Netz stepped in as a reliever for the rest of the game striking out five players in just three innings.
vs. ASU Day 1 – Friday, March 21 at 6 p.m.
The Wildcats started the series with a 6-1 win over the Sun Devils.
Arizona earned a 3-0 lead in the third inning after Sydney Stewart launched a three-run home run, her ninth home run of the season.
Scoring wouldn’t slow down as Biehl hit a calculated sacrifice fly in the fourth to bring Tagalog home and give the Wildcats a 4-0 lead.
Kaiah Altmeyer would give the Wildcats the winning edge as she drove in a single through the left side bringing Dakota Kennedy and Biehl home. This would push the Wildcats well past the Sun Devils at 6-0.
Arizona allowed ASU to hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth but the win was already theirs.
Stoddard opened the game for the Wildcats and went 5.2 innings, while only allowing one run on five hits. Netz pitched 1.1 innings and retired four batters with one strikeout to close out the night.
vs. ASU Day 2 – Saturday, March 22 at 5 p.m.
Arizona secured the series after dominating once again in a 5-1 victory in the second game of the series.
Finishing with only one run less than yesterday, Arizona kept the lead throughout the entire game.
The scoring began in the first inning when Netz hit a single to shortstop, sending Kennedy home. They followed up in the third inning as an Altmeyer single to the right side sent two runners home giving Arizona an early 3-0 lead.
Netz was once again a double threat as she pitched a full seven innings along with scoring her 10th home run of the season.
She completed the day with only one error, five strikeouts and only five hits on her in in total.
Netz’s home run came at the top of the sixth inning and sent her along with another runner home finishing Arizona’s scoring at 5 total runs.
Although a runner made it home at the bottom of the seventh inning, the next at-bat was struck out by Netz to make the final score 5-1.
Winning the day and the series, the Wildcats had one more challenge before the end of the week.
vs. ASU Day 3 – Sunday, March 23 at 1 p.m.
Their final bout of the weekend did not share the same result as the past two days as Arizona took a 3-2 loss.
The game began scoreless on both sides for the first and second innings. ASU would score 3 runs in the bottom of the third inning forcing the Wildcats to play catch up for the rest of the game.
After two more scoreless innings, The Wildcats would finally put a run on the board with an RBI single from Biehl in the sixth inning.
With one more shot for a comeback in the seventh inning, Shockey would come home after a fielder’s choice. This would not be enough as the game would have a 3-2 final score.
The Wildcats had three pitchers in the game. Saya Swain and Stoddard would pitch in the first three innings, giving up six hits and all of the Sun Devil’s runs for the game.
Stoddard came in to relieve Swain in the third inning only to give up a run. Ryan Maddox would pitch the rest of the game allowing only two hits.
Looking Ahead
Arizona will once again play far from home once again heading north to play at Gail Miller Field in Provo, Utah as they challenge BYU from Thursday, March 27 to Saturday, March 29.
