#9 ARIZONA (21-2)	SAN DIEGO (14-13)	SOUTH DAKOTA (7-19)	#24 USC UPSTATE (18-5)	WISCONSIN (13-11)
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DATE	TIME	MATCHUP/RESULT	LINKS
Thursday, March 8	FINAL	ARIZONA 9, South Dakota 1 (5)	Recap • Box Score
Friday, March 9	FINAL	Wisconsin 2, USC Upstate 0	Box Score (PDF)
Friday, March 9	FINAL	ARIZONA 1, Wisconsin 0	Recap • Box Score
Friday, March 9	FINAL	ARIZONA 10, San Diego 2 (5)	Recap • Box Score
Friday, March 9	FINAL	South Dakota 7, USC Upstate 4	Box Score (PDF)
Friday, March 9	FINAL	South Dakota 6, San Diego 5 (8)	Box Score (PDF)
Saturday, March 10	FINAL	ARIZONA 3, USC Upstate 0	Recap • Box Score (PDF)
Saturday, March 10	FINAL	ARIZONA 9, Wisconsin 3	Recap • Box Score (PDF)
Saturday, March 10	FINAL	San Diego 3, USC Upstate 2	Box Score (PDF)
Saturday, March 10	FINAL	Wisconsin 6, South Dakota 3	Box Score (PDF)
Saturday, March 10	FINAL	San Diego 4, South Dakota 1	Box Score (PDF)
Sunday, March 11	FINAL	San Diego 7, Wisconsin 4	Box Score (PDF)
Sunday, March 11	1 p.m.	ARIZONA 9, USC Upstate 1	Recap • Box Score (PDF)

Parking: Five dollar parking will be available Thursday-Sunday in the Cherry Garage. Surface lots and meters surrounding Hillenbrand Stadium will be free of charge on the weekend beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday. Plan for an increase in traffic on Saturday and Sunday due to the Tucson Festival of Books, which takes place on the UA Mall.
 

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• The Wildcats took the series at Texas last weekend in Austin, defeating the Longhorns in games 1 and 3 thanks to a pair of Taylor McQuillin gems as well as an offensive outburst from Malia Martinez. The loss in game 2 ended a 13-game winning streak for Arizona, but UA got back to its winning ways on Sunday to win the series.
• Taylor McQuillin is on an absolute tear. She threw 13 more scoreless innings at Texas this weekend, throwing a two-hitter in game one and then allowing two hits in six shutout innings in game 3. She didn't pitch the seventh inning of game 3, denying her an opportunity to finish off what could have been her sixth consecutive shutout. She has thrown 28.1 consecutive shutout innings.
• With Arizona's 15-2 start to 2018 and Michigan's 13-6 start, Arizona head coach Mike Candrea (1,535 career wins) has cut Michigan's Carol Hutchins' (1,540) lead to five wins as the all-time winningest coach in NCAA softball history. A full breakdown of their chase can be found on page 3.
• UA's offense is fourth in the NCAA in home runs per game (1.47) and slugging percentage (.578) and 10th nationally in batting average (.338).
• The Wildcats are 16-for-16 stealing bases. That's the second most SBs without a CS in the country. UA's 16 steals in 17 games nearly equal their 61-game total from a year ago (19). Ashleigh Hughes (6) is fourth in the Pac-12 in stolen bases and Jenna Kean (4) is tied for ninth.
• 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 remained No. 9/8 in the polls after their road series victory over the Longhorns.
• This week, 2017 Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Danielle O'Toole and Pac-12 co-Player of the Year Katiyana Mauga will make their returns to Hillenbrand Stadium. O'Toole is San Diego's pitching coach; Mauga is the volunteer assistant. 

THIS WEEK: After two weeks on the road, ninth-ranked Arizona (15-2) is set to begin a 10-game homestand at Hillenbrand Stadium with the Wildcat Invitational. UA welcomes San Diego (11-11), South Dakota (6-15), No. 24 USC Upstate (18-0) and Wisconsin (11-8) for the four-day, 13-game event in Tucson. UA opens the event on Thursday vs. South Dakota at 6 p.m. before taking on Wisconsin and San Diego on Friday beginning at 1 p.m. MST. On Saturday, UA faces USC Upstate and Wisconsin in a doubleheader beginning at 9 a.m. before wrapping up the event on Sunday vs. USC Upstate at 1 p.m. MST. The six games kick off 10 straight games at home for UA, which is 4-0 this season at Hillenbrand Stadium and 697-90 all-time.

OPPONENTS
San Diego: The Toreros (11-11) went 2-3 at the San Diego Classic with wins over Colorado State and CSUN and losses to No. 22 Long Beach State, No. 3 UCLA and Oregon State. Pitcher Delaney Heller was named WCC Pitcher of the Week after going 2-1 with a 2.37 ERA in the San Diego Classic; she joins Halle Kyler, who earned the distinction earlier in the season. 2017 All-Americans Danielle O'Toole (pitching coach) and Katiyana Mauga (volunteer assistant coach) are on staff at USD. Arizona is 2-0 all-time vs. USD, sweeping a doubleheader in 2001. 
South Dakota: The Coyotes (6-15) went 3-2 at the Grand Canyon Classic in Phoenix last weekend with wins over UNLV, Grand Canyon, Princeton and losses to Valparaiso and Grand Canyon. Jessica Rogers was named Summit League Player of the Week after hitting .692 with two homers and six RBI in Phoenix. She is one of six Coyotes hitting over .300 on the season. Arizona and South Dakota have never met.
USC Upstate: The 24th-ranked Spartans (18-0) went 5-0 at the Wings Etc. Classic in Spartanburg, S.C. to remain perfect on the year and move into the top 25 for the first time this season. The Spartans rank top 25 nationally in batting average, doubles per game, ERA, fielding percentage, OBP, scoring, slg% and stolen bases. Arizona and and USC Upstate have never met.
Wisconsin: The Badgers (11-8) went 4-1 at the USF Tournament in Tampa, Florida with wins over Central Michigan, College of Charleston, Western Michigan and Wright State and a loss to the host Bulls. The Badgers feature a pitching staff with a combined 2.61 ERA, led by Haley Hestekin (5-3, 1.80 ERA). Arizona is 2-2 all-time against Wisconsin. The Badgers won the most recent matchup at the 2014 Judi Garman Classic (7-5).

ARIZONA AT THE WILDCAT INVITATIONAL 

• Arizona is 103-4 (.963) all-time at the Wildcat Invitational, including 6-0 last season. 
• The Wildcats' last loss in the event occurred in 2016 to No. 10 James Madison; UA went 4-2 in 2016.
• Last year, UA defeated Drake, 2x (7-0, 21-0), Ball State (9-1), Abilene Christian (7-0), North Dakota State (2-1) and Boston College (12-2) in the Wildcat Invitational. Dejah Mulipola (.643 avg, 2 2B, 2 HR, 14 RBI) was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week in her second week of her career. 

WHO'S HOT?
Taylor McQuillin: In her last 10 appearances dating back to Feb. 11, nine of which span at least five innings, McQuillin has not allowed more than two hits and has only allowed single runs in two of those appearances. Over those 10 appearances, she is 9-0 with a 0.25 ERA, has allowed two runs and 12 total hits (.068 b/avg) with 77 strikeouts in 56.0 innings pitched. She has allowed 25 total hits this season, 13 of which occurred in her first eight innings. Over the 58 innings since, she's allowed 1.4 hits per seven innings, which would lead the country by a large margin.
Malia Martinez: On a weekend where Arizona's offense managed just 18 total hits over three games at Texas, Martinez had six of them. The sophomore went 6-for-9 (.667) with two doubles and her first career homer. In game 3, she finished a triple shy of the cycle and went 4-for-4 with five RBI. After starting the season 1-for-her-first-14, she is 13-for-28 (.464) since and has a hit in eight of her last 10 games.
Alyssa Palomino: After starting the season 3-for-14 (.214), Palomino is 12-for-21 (.571) with three homers and a .933 slugging percentage. She went 4-for-9 (.444) with three doubles at Texas.
Aleah Craighton: In UA's last six games, Craighton has at least one RBI in four of them, including three multi-RBI outings. In those games, she is 8-for-12 (.667) with three doubles, a triple as well as the biggest hit of the season so far for the Cats - her two-run homer vs. No. 4 Oklahoma at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, the only runs scored in a 2-0 UA victory an only earned runs allowed all season by OU ace Paige Parker.

LAST WEEK 

• Arizona went 2-1 in a three-game series with Texas in Austin last week. UA and UT split a pair of pitchers' duels in games 1 and 2 before UA's offense broke open in a big way in game 3.
• Malia Martinez was a shining light for the UA offense. She had 6 of Arizona's 18 total hits on the weekend, going 6-for-9 (.667) over the three days. In game 3, she went a career-best 4-for-4 with five RBI, finishing a triple shy of the cycle, including her first career homer. 
• Taylor McQuillin was dominant once again. She pitched 13 scoreless innings to extend her scoreless streak to 28.1 innings. She went 2-0 and allowed four total hits with 16 strikeouts.
• McQuillin threw her fifth straight shutout in game 1, fanning seven in the complete-game two-hitter. Aleah Craighton drove in both runs in a 2-0 Wildcat victory.
• Texas evened the series in game 2. Two UT pitchers combined to allow one Wildcat hit in a 3-1 Longhorn win.
• Arizona's offense broke out in a big way in game 3, scoring 10 runs on 10 hits, including Martinez's 4-for-4, 5 RBI game.

THE CHASE FOR HISTORY: When the season began, Arizona head coach Mike Candrea trailed Michigan's Carol Hutchins by seven wins for the all-time lead in career NCAA victories. Over the first four weeks of the season, that margin has shrunk to five wins after UA's 15-2 start and Michigan's 13-6 beginning. Here are some notes on the battle between the two Hall of Fame head coaches.

• Last year Candrea became the first coach in NCAA softball history to reach 1,500 Division I victories earlier this season vs. Washington. Candrea, who is 1,535-390-2 (.798), trails only Michigan's Carol Hutchins (1,540 wins) in NCAA history. Candrea's victories have occurred over 31 years of coaching while Hutchins is in her 35th year (including a season in a lower NCAA division).
• Candrea is the fastest coach in NCAA history, in any sport, in any division, to record 1,500 career wins.

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). Taylor McQuillin has filled that void thus far. She is tied for the NCAA lead with 11 victories and is ninth with 92 strikeouts.

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 in week 1, the first time a WIldcat had accomplished that since 2013 (Lauren Young). Her seven home runs rank 11th nationally and she leads the team in slugging percentage (.875) and RBI (21) and is second in batting average (.411). Harper was 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 77 of UA's 78 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". 

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 was 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, the week 3 ESPNW Player and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week, is tied for NCAA lead with 11 wins. 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, leads the team, hitting .432 and reaching base at a .528 clip. She has four doubles and five homers this season.

HOME RUN U

• Arizona has hit 2,036 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 fourth in the country this season with 1.47 homers per game.

BEATING THE BEST: Since 1994, Arizona is above .500 against ranked teams, top-10 teams and top-five competition. UA is 558-251-1 (.690) against ranked competition, 263-163 (.617) against top-10 teams and 129-111 (.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).