TUCSON, Ariz. - No. 18 Arizona softball swept a doubleheader with Houston on Saturday, sweeping the weekend series in the process. Arizona defeated Houston 11-2 (5 innings) and 7-4 on Saturday.
Game 1 - #18 Arizona 11, Houston 2 (5 innings)
Arizona plated six runs over the first two innings and cruised from there, downing Houston in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, 11-2 in five innings.
Katiyana Mauga hit her 60th career home run, making her the sixth Wildcat, and third junior, in school history to hit 60 career bombs. Mauga's homer was one of two long balls for the Cats in the game; Tamara Statman also went deep for UA.
Arizona scored 11 runs on 12 hits, its best offensive day since March 12 at UT Arlington. Statman had a career-high three hits. Mandie Perez and Lauren Young added two hits apiece.
Mo Mercado led UA with three RBI. Mercado and Young each extended their season-long hitting streaks to seven games.
Taylor McQuillin (W, 10-5) went four innings in the circle for Arizona and allowed two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Michelle Floyd pitched a perfect fifth in her first appearance since March 9.
In the first, UA tagged starter Presley Bell for four runs before the freshman could get an out. Mo Mercado, Tamara Statman and Alexis Dotson all notched RBI in the frame.
The Cats added on in the second when Mercado singled in two runs to give UA a 6-0 cushion.
Houston got the two runs back on Brooke Vannoy's two-run homer in the third.
Mauga and Statman each hit solo homers in the fourth. The Cougars then committed their third, fourth and fifth errors of the game, leading to three unearned runs to give Arizona the mercy edge it needed.
Game 2 - #18 Arizona 7, Houston 4
A sixth-run third inning led Arizona to a 7-4 victory in the nightcap over the Cougars, as the Wildcats held off Houston to sweep the series.
Katiyana Mauga went 3-for-4 with three RBI and her second home run of the day. Mauga leads the team with 15 home runs and has 61 in her career.
Danielle O'Toole earned the win in relief of Nancy Bowling, who ran into some bad luck in the fourth inning. Bowling was cruising until a pair of errors extended the fourth and allowed the Cougars to score four runs, one earned. Bowling finished with two strikeouts and two walks in 3.2 innings.
O'Toole picked up her conference-high 16th victory. The junior went 3.1 scoreless innings on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk.
After exchanging zeros in the first two innings, Arizona finally got the scoring going in the third. Mauga and Statman each knocked two-run doubles before Dotson crushed her second homer of the season to put Arizona on top 6-0.
Houston responded in its next at-bat, capitalizing on a pair of Wildcat errors to produce four runs and cut Arizona's lead to 6-4.
Mauga led off the bottom of the fifth with her second homer of the day to put the Cats on top 7-4.
Up Next: Arizona heads to Stanford for a three-game series on the Farm, beginning Friday, April 15.
Follow Arizona Softball: For continued coverage of Arizona Wildcat softball, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and be sure to follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@UA_Softball).
