TEMPE, Ariz. - Seventh-ranked Arizona kicked off the 2018 season with a split of day 1 of the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe. The Wildcats defeated Northwestern 4-1 before fallin to 24th-ranked Oklahoma State 9-4 in the nightcap.
UA is back in action tomorrow in the Kajikawa Classic. UA will play UC Davis at 11:45 a.m. and Fresno State at 5 p.m. at the Tempe Sports Complex.
Game 1: #7 Arizona 4, Northwestern 1
A big sixth inning to go along with domination in the circle from
Alyssa Denham and
Taylor McQuillin led the Cats to a 4-1 victory in the 2018 season opener against Northwestern at Farrington Stadium in Tempe.
Alyssa Palomino hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie, helping the Cats break through in what was a pitchers' duel between Denham and Northwestern's Kaley Winegarner. McQuillin (1-0) entered in the top of the sixth to earn the victory in relief. In her first appearance as a Wildcat, Denham, a sophomore transfer from Louisiana-Lafayette, pitched five strong innings, allowing just one unearned run on two hits with five strikeouts. McQuillin fanned four in her two scoreless innings of relief.
Palomino's two-run homer represented two of four RBI from Arizona's sophomore class in the game. 2017 first-team All-American
Jessie Harper got UA's scoring going with a single in the third and
Reyna Carranco plated UA's fourth run in the sixth inning.
Carranco went 2-for-3 in the game, extending her hitting streak to nine games dating back to last season. Senior
Ashleigh Hughes, in her first career start as UA's leadoff hitter, had two hits as well to extend her hitting streak to six games. Redshirt freshman
Carli Campbell had two hits as well in her first career game.
Northwestern scored a run without a hit in the top of the first inning, taking advantage of a Wildcat error, two walks and an RBI hit batsmen to put the visiting team on top.
Arizona broke through to tie the game in the third.
Reyna Carranco hit a one-out double and scored on line drive off the left field wall from
Jessie Harper.
The 1-1 tie remained until the bottom of the sixth inning.
Aleah Craighton's first Wildcat hit came in the form of a leadoff double to left. Palomino followed with an opposite field blast, UA's first home run of 2018. The Cats would insure the lead with an RBI single from Carranco to make it 4-1.
McQuillin worked around a walk and a single in the seventh to close the door and earn the win for Arizona.
Game 2: #24 Oklahoma State 9, #7 Arizona 4
Oklahoma State put together a steady offensive performance, striking for nine runs on 12 hits to upset Arizona, 9-4. The Cowgirls plated runs in all but one inning in the contest.
After a brilliant performance in game 1, Arizona struggled in the circle in game 2.
Taylor McQuillin allowed five runs on seven hits in three innings in her second appearance of the day while
Hanah Bowen, in her first collegiate action, gave up four runs on five hits.
Arizona scored four runs on six hits, two of which were home runs.
Dejah Mulipola and
Ashleigh Hughes went deep for the Cats.
Malia Martinez added an RBI.
The Cats fell into an early hole when the Cowgirls plated four runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Cats chipped away, but OSU scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth and two runs in the sixth to keep the Cats at arms length.
