THE GAMES (Times MST)
10 | Thursday, Feb. 22 (11:30 a.m.) |
10,
0, 5 innings |
Recap |
Box Score
11 | Thursday, Feb. 22 (4:30 p.m.) |
9,
4 |
Recap |
Box Score
12 | Friday, Feb. 23 (11 a.m.) |
7,
5 |
Recap |
Box Score
13 | Friday, Feb. 23 (1:30 p.m.) |
8,
0, 5 innings |
Recap |
Box Score
14 | Saturday, Feb. 24 (1 p.m.) |
vs.
|
Flo Softball Live Stream $ |
Live Audio |
Live Stats |
Twitter Updates
WEEKLY NOTES
- The Wildcats escaped a rare rain-soaked weekend in Tucson with postponements, cancelations and weather delays with a 4-0 record at the Hillenbrand Invitational. UA pitchers limited opponents to one run over the four games and to just nine hits in 83 at-bats (.108).
- The 4-0 weekend improved Arizona to 8-1 on the year after two weekends of play heading into the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, a tournament that brings many of the best teams in NCAA Softball together.
- Arizona has hit 20 home runs in nine games on the season, second to only top-ranked Washington, who has hit 28 in 12 games. UA is led by Jessie Harper, whose six long balls are tied for second in the NCAA.
- In addition to home runs, UA's offense is top 10 in batting average (9th - .366) and slugging percentage (4th - .681).
- After throwing a no-hitter last Sunday vs. New Mexico in which her perfect-game-bid was broken up by a full count walk with two outs to get, Taylor McQuillin had another flirt with perfection this Sunday vs. Colorado State. McQuillin retired the first 16 Rams before giving up a bloop single with one out in the sixth inning, the only baserunner she would allow in Arizona's 3-0 victory over previously unbeaten CSU. Dating back to opening weekend, McQuillin has retired 57 of the last 63 batters she has faced with 35 strikeouts over those 19.2 innings. On the season, the junior has 49 strikeouts in 29 innings. That ranks second in the Pac-12 and eighth nationally.
- Despite returning six starters and 12 letterwinners from the 2017 Pac-12 Championship team, seven of the nine positions featured a new face to start the 2018 season. Only two players (catcher Dejah Mulipola and second baseman Reyna Carranco) were in the same position as last year; Jessie Harper (1B to SS), Alyssa Palomino (CF to 1B), Ashleigh Hughes (RF to CF) all played new positions.
- The Wildcats dropped to No. 13/12 in the polls after their 4-0 weekend.
- Arizona is set to return to Palm Springs for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic for the eighth straight year and 11th overall. The Wildcats are 41-15 (.732) all-time in the event. Last season, UA went 4-1 with victories over Louisville, No. 23 BYU, Purdue, LIU Brooklyn and a loss to top-ranked Florida State.
- The Wildcats are 11-for-11 stealing bases in nine games this year. Last year, in 61 games, UA was 19-for-23 stealing bases. Ashleigh Hughes (4-for-4) and Jenna Kean (3-for-3) are UA's two most prolific base stealers.
THIS WEEK: Thirteenth-ranked Arizona (8-1) hits the road for the first of two straight weekends away from Hillenbrand Stadium. The eight-game roadtrip opens in Palm Springs, where UA will play five games in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. The Wildcats will face North Carolina and Missouri on Thursday, St. John's and CSUN on Friday and two-time-defending national champion Oklahoma on Saturday.
OPPONENTS
North Carolina: The Tarheels (5-4) went 2-2 at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Chapel Hill, splitting a pair of games with both Illinois and Wisconsin. Leah Murray leads UNC with a .469 average while Brittany Pickett is 5-0 with a 1.71 ERA in the circle. Arizona has won all four previous meetings between the two schools, most recently in 2001. Full series history on page 5.
Missouri: The Tigers (6-5) went 4-2 at last week's Michele Smith Pediatric Cancer Invitational in Clearwater, Fla., with wins over USF (twice), UMass Lowell and FAU and losses to No. 15 Oklahoma State and Marshall. Amanda Sanchez is hitting .514 with five doubles and three homers in 11 games this season to lead the team. Arizona is 10-4 all-time vs. Missouri, but the Tigers have won three straight, including matchups at the 2014 and 2015 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
St. John's: The Red Storm (2-3) was off last week after a 2-3 start to the season at the FIU Felsberg Invitational in Miami. Melendez leads the team with a .600 average, three doubles, a homer and four RBI. The Wildcats are 4-0 all-time vs. St. John's, most recently, a 4-2 victory in the 2015 Tucson Regional.
CSUN: The Matadors (4-6) went 3-2 at the Marucci Desert Classic in Nevada last week with wins over Nevada, South Dakota and Idaho State and losses to FIU and New Mexico. Savannah Horvath is sixth nationally with five home runs while hitting .536 for the Matadors. Arizona is 27-6 all-time against CSUN; including two wins last season, two of nine straight in the series for UA.
Oklahoma: The fourth-ranked Sooners (6-1) split a pair of games in the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, N.M. last week, falling to Boston before defeating New Mexico State. The Sooners are hitting .342 as a team, led by Nicole Pendley's .500 clip. Paige Parker (3-1) and Paige Lowary (1-0) have yet to allow an earned run this season. Arizona is 27-17 all-time vs. Oklahoma and has won two straight in the series, both in walkoff fashion in 2015 and 2017.
WHO'S HOT?
Taylor McQuillin: Dating back to week 1 of the season, McQuillin has retired 57 of the last 63 batters she has faced, allowing three hits over 19.2 innings (.050 average) with 36 strikeouts. Overall, she has held opponents to a .160 average this season and has fanned 49 batters in 29 innings.
Jessie Harper: Last week the sophomore became the first Wildcat since 2013 (Lauren Young) to record two straight multi-homer games when she hit four homers in her final six at-bats in the Kajikawa Classic. That streak is now at six homers in UA's last six games after two more home runs this weekend. She leads the team with a .483 average, 14 RBI and a 1.138 slugging percentage.
Reyna Carranco: Dating back to last year, Carranco has a hit in 16 of UA's last 17 games, hitting .491 in that span. She enters the Mary Nutter Classic on a seven-game hitting streak. Carranco, who had five extra-base-hits in 141 at-bats last year, has six already this year in 29 at-bats this season.
Dejah Mulipola: The sophomore has the team's longest hitting streak at eight games. Mulipola is hitting .500 over the hitting streak with three homers and a .958 slugging percentage.
Alyssa Denham: Denham tossed her first Wildcat career shutout in her five-hitter vs. ULM on Saturday. The Louisiana-Lafayette transfer improved to 2-0 and lowered her ERA to 0.37 on the season.
LAST WEEK
- Arizona went 4-0 in the Hillenbrand Invitational, playing just four of its six scheduled games due to rain. UA defeated ULM (4-0), Montana (2-1), Colorado State (3-0) and Bryant (14-0, 5).
- Wildcat pitchers were dominant on the weekend, allowing just one run over the four games (0.27 ERA) and nine hits in 83 at-bats (.108 batting average).
- The offense, which struggled at times to find timely hits to score runs, hit .388 on the weekend with 15 extra-base hits. Seven different Wildcats homered. Jessie Harper led the team in that department for the second straight weekend with two #HarperHomers.
- Arizona went 3-for-3 stealing bases. UA's opponents also attempted three stolen bases. Dejah Mulipola threw all of them out.
- Joelle Krist and Hillary Edior each saw their first starts of 2018 in the Hillenbrand Invitational. They each homered. Krist hit .750 to lead the team while Edior hit .500.
ARIZONA AT THE MARY NUTTER COLLEGIATE CLASSIC: Arizona is set to return to Palm Springs for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic for the eighth straight year and 11th overall. The Wildcats are 41-15 (.732) all-time in the event. Last season, UA went 4-1 with victories over Louisville, No. 23 BYU, Purdue, LIU Brooklyn and a loss to top-ranked Florida State.
CIRCLE IT: Arizona has finished second in the Pac-12 in each of the last two years (2016 - 2.67, 2017 - 1.45). This season, UA will need to replace 2017 Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year and first-team All-American
Danielle O'Toole, who led the conference in ERA (1.21) and finished second in strikeouts (210) and victories (30).
HARPER HOMERS: Power-hitting shortstop
Jessie Harper matched her jersey number with 19 home runs in her rookie campaign and became Arizona's first true freshman to earn first-team NFCA All-America honors since Kenzie Fowler in 2010. The Stevenson Ranch, California native is off to a hot start in 2018, she recorded back-to-back two-homer games vs. Fresno State and New Mexico, the first time a WIldcat had accomplished that since 2013 (Lauren Young). Her six home runs rank second nationally and she leads the team in batting average (.483), slugging percentage (1.138) and RBI (14). Harper is one of four Wildcats named to the USA Softball Player of the Year Top 50 "Watch List".
GEAUXING OUT WITH A BANG: Two-time NFCA All-American outfielder
Aleah Craighton is set to finish her career in Tucson after a decorated three-year career at Louisiana Lafayette. Craighton hit .365 in her Ragin Cajun career with 48 homers, 154 RBI and a .794 slugging percentage. She was named a Hero Sports Preseason All-American and is on the USA Softball Player of the Year "Watch List".
DEJAH VU: Dejah Mulipola will look to duplicate her impressive rookie campaign in year 2 in Tucson. As a freshman, Mulipola, who was one of 25 finalists for NFCA DI Freshman of the Year, hit .335 with 12 doubles, 12 homers and three triples. Mulipola has caught 65 of UA's 66 games in her career. The sophomore, who will play for USA Softball this summer, was selected to the USA Softball Player of the Year "Watch List". She is hitting .429 with two doubles, three homers and eight RBI this year.
TAYLOR'S TIME: After complementing ace
Danielle O'Toole during McQuillin's freshman and sophomore seasons, it's now the junior's time to shine. McQuillin one of the most decorated high school pitchers in recent history has been terrific in her complementary role. Last year, McQuillin was one of 34 finalists for USA Softball Pitcher of the Year; this year, she begins the season on the Top 50 "Watch List". McQuillin recorded her first career no-hitter while flirting with perfection in her third start of 2017. She fanned 11 of the 16 New Mexico batters she faced on Feb. 11. The strikeout specialist who finished 12th in the country last year, averaging 9.2 strikeouts per seven innings, is rapidly climbing the UA career strikeout charts.
MINOR SETBACKS, MAJOR COMEBACK: A torn right ACL on day 1 of fall practice cost
Alyssa Palomino her true freshman season in 2016. In her return in 2017, she was among the conference leaders and national freshman leaders in home runs (16) and RBI (54) heading into the postseason. Two days prior to the Tucson Regional, Palomino tore her left ACL in practice. Now, the redshirt sophomore is ready to overcome both devastating injuries. Palomino, who made the switch from the outfield to first base, has hit three homers in UA's first two weekends.
QUEEN REYNA: Reyna Carranco led the Wildcats with a .419 batting average in conference play last season. Dating back to the beginning of Pac-12 play in 2017, Carranco is hitting .469 over her last 42 games (53-113).
HOME RUN U
- Arizona has hit 2,031 home runs since softball became a Division I sport in 1982, the most of any team in NCAA history.
- Arizona has four of the top six home run hitters in NCAA history, including Katiyana Mauga, who hit a Pac-12 record 92 from 2014-17, three shy of the NCAA record.
- The Wildcats led the country with 94 home runs last season, their third time in the last nine years pacing the NCAA. Overall, UA has led the country nine times since 1994.
- Arizona has hit 100-or-more home runs six times in program history. Only two other schools have hit the century mark more than twice (UTSA and Louisiana Lafayette).
- UA is second in the country this season with 20 long balls, led by Jessie Harper's four.
BEATING THE BEST: Since 1994, Arizona is above .500 against ranked teams, top-10 teams and top-five competition. UA is 557-251-1 (.690) against ranked competition, 262-163 (.617) against top-10 teams and 128-111 (.536) against top-five teams.
R31GNING SUPREME: Arizona has appeared in every NCAA Tournament since 1988,
Mike Candrea's second year on campus. That's an NCAA-Record 31 consecutive years in the tournament for Arizona. Not only is that the longest active streak, but it is seven years longer than the second longest streak. The 31 straight seasons breaks Fresno State's inactive 30-year streak.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: This fall, Arizona brought back Wildcat All-American, National Champion and 2007 Women's College World Series MVP
Taryne Mowatt as an assistant coach, joining
Caitlin Lowe on
Mike Candrea's all-Arizona staff. Mowatt and Lowe were teammates on both the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Championship squad. Their combined four NCAA titles in addition to Coach Candrea's eight give Arizona's coaching staff a total of 12 as either a head coach or player, the most in NCAA softball. Add in Director of Recruiting-Operations
Stacy Iveson, who helped lead UA to three NCAA titles as an assistant coach (96, 97, 01) before winning four NJCAA titles as a head coach at Pima and Yavapai College, you won't find a staff with championship pedigree quite like Arizona's.
FOLLOW THE TEAM: Be sure to follow the Wildcats on their social media platforms. To stay up-to-date on all the latest happenings with the team, follow Arizona softball on Twitter and Instagram (@ArizonaSoftball).
