THE GAMES (Times MST)
37 | Friday, April 13 |  7,  6 | Recap | Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery
38 | Saturday, April 14 |  7,  6 | Recap | Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery
39 | Sunday, April 15 (5 p.m.) |  vs.  | Pac-12 National/Arizona/Los Angeles | Live Stats | Twitter Updates | Radio: 1400 KTUC | Tickets
   

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THIS WEEK: No. 12 Arizona (27-9, 6-6 Pac-12) will look to get bounce back from a rough weekend in Oregon as it welcomes fourth-ranked UCLA (34-3, 9-3 Pac-12) for a nationally-televised three-game series at Hillenbrand Stadium this Friday-Sunday. UA and UCLA get going on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU; the games on Saturday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (5 p.m.) will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.

LEADING OFF

• UA will look to get back on track after a sweep at fifth-ranked Oregon last week in Eugene. The Wildcats will return home, where they are 6-0 in league play this year and 16-1 overall.
• Arizona is in the middle of what will be five straight weekends vs. ranked Pac-12 opponents. After facing No. 1 Washington, No. 22 California and No. 5 Oregon, UA will face No. 4 UCLA this week. UA's next conference opponent, Arizona State, is No. 7 this week. 
• The Wildcats are averaging 1.7 home runs per game at home this season and 1.31 per game overall, third best in the country. No one likes hitting at Hillenbrand more than Alyssa Palomino, who's batting .490 with six home runs in 17 games at home this season. 
• Jessie Harper, who finished second in the Pac-12 to Katiyana Mauga with 19 home runs last season, leads the conference with 12 homers this year. She is fifth in the Pac-12 with 36 RBI and fifth with a .765 slugging percentage.
• Alyssa Palomino is second in the Pac-12 in batting average (.427), on-base percentage (.512) and home runs (11) and is third in slugging percentage (.816). She is the only player in the Pac-12 and one of seven nationally hitting at least .420 with more than 10 home runs.
• Taylor McQuillin is tied for the NCAA lead with nine shutouts. Three of them have come against ranked teams, including one-hitters vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (2/24) and No. 22 Cal (3/29).
• Despite returning six starters and 12 letterwinners from the 2017 Pac-12 Championship team, seven of the nine positions feature a new face in 2018. Only two players (catcher Dejah Mulipola and second baseman Reyna Carranco) are in the same position as last year; Jessie Harper (1B to SS), Alyssa Palomino (CF to 1B), Ashleigh Hughes (RF to CF) are all playing new positions. 
• Head Coach Mike Candrea is second in NCAA history with 1,547 career victories, 11 behind Michigan's Carol Hutchins (1,558).
• The top six Wildcat hitters (by batting average) are all underclassmen, including five sophomores: The sophomore class is hitting .360 with 36 home runs while all other classes are hitting a combined .255 with 11 home runs.
• Arizona and UCLA, the two winningest programs in the sport's history, have combined for 19 NCAA Championships and 20 conference championships since softball became an NCAA sport in 1982.

SCOUTING THE BRUINS: No. 4 UCLA (34-3, 9-2 Pac-12) will bring the nation's top batting average to Tucson this weekend (.362); four Bruins are hitting over .400, led by Aaliyah Jordan, whose .486 average is tops in the conference. Jordan has seven home runs and 51 RBI ... Rachel Garcia (11-1, 1.40 ERA, 119 Ks, 80.0 IP) and Holly Azevedo (12-0, 1.83 ERA, 46 Ks, 68.2 IP) lead a pitching staff that has a combined 1.85 ERA.

ARIZONA vs. UCLA: The most historic rivalry in college softball is renewed this weekend at Hillenbrand Stadium. The two most successful programs in the sports history have combined for 19 NCAA titles. UCLA leads the all-time series 78-57 and has won each of the last six series. Last season in Westwood, the Bruins won the series 2-1, but UA's game 3 victory clinched the Pac-12 Championship. A recap of 2017 and the all-time series can be found on page 5.

WHO'S HOT?
Jessie Harper: After posting five doubles over Arizona's first 31 games of the season, Harper has four doubles over the last five. She is now tied for the team lead with nine doubles. She has five doubles, four homers and 10 RBI in Pac-12 play.
Malia Martinez: The sophomore leads the team, hitting .371 in league play.
Ashleigh Hughes: The senior is 11-for-her-last-29 (.379) and has at least one hit in seven of UA's last nine games. Two weeks ago against Cal, she became the first Wildcat since 2012 to steal three bases in a game (game 1) and the first Wildcat since 2016 to hit a walkoff home run (game 2).

LAST WEEK

• No. 5 Oregon got the best of the Wildcats last week, sweeping the three-game series in rainy Eugene.
• Oregon hit two home runs in a four-run sixth inning that broke a 1-1 tie in game 1 in a 5-2 Oregon victory in the opener.
• The Ducks won games 2 and 3 in run-rule fashion, shuting out Arizona 8-0 and 10-0 in a pair of six-inning games.
• Jessie Harper and Ashleigh Hughes hit .333 to lead the Cats on the weekend; Harper had two doubles and and an RBI.

THE CHASE FOR HISTORY: Two legends, two Hall of Famers, Arizona's Mike Candrea and Michigan's Carol Hutchins, are battling it out to become the winningest coach in the sport's history. Hutchins currently has an 11-win advantage on Candrea. Below are some notes on their chase for history.

• 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 1,547-397-2 (.798), trails only Michigan's Carol Hutchins (1,558-498-5, .756) in NCAA history. Candrea's victories have occurred over 31 years of coaching at Arizona 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 ERA in each of the last two years (2016 - 2.67, 2017 - 1.45) and sits fifth in the conference in 2018 with a 1.87 ERA. This season, UA has been tasked with replacing 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 (18-6, 1.39 ERA) has filled that void thus far. She is seventh in the NCAA in victories (18), first in shutouts (9) and is 13th with 177 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 backing it up 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). She leads the Pac-12 with 12 home runs while her team-high 36 RBI are fifth in the league. Harper, the week 6 Pac-12 Player of the Week, 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 preseason first-team All-American by three publications and was on the USA Softball Player of the Year "Watch List". Craighton leads the team this season with 21 walks. She is seventh among all active players in the NCAA in career home runs (54) and ninth in RBI (176).

QUEEN REYNA: After posting just five extra base hits in 57 games as a freshman (3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run), Reyna Carranco has 11 in 31 games this season. She is tied for the team lead with nine doubles to go along with two home runs. Carranco missed five games with a fractured nose and a concussion when she was hit by a 70 mph Taran Alvelo pitch in the face in game 1 vs. Washington (3/23), but returned last week vs. Oregon.

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 began the season on the Top 50 "Watch List". McQuillin, the week 3 ESPNW Player and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week after her dominance at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic that included a one-hit shutout of No. 4 Oklahoma, is tied for the NCAA lead with nine shutouts and is seventh with 18 victories. The strikeout specialist who finished 12th in the country last year, averaging 9.2 strikeouts per seven innings, and is 13th with 177 strikeouts this year is rapidly climbing the UA career strikeout charts.

MINOR SETBACKS, MAJOR COMEBACK: A torn right ACL on day 1 of fall practice (Oct., 2015) 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 last year's Tucson Regional, Palomino tore her left ACL in practice. Now, the redshirt sophomore is in the process of overcoming both devastating injuries. Palomino, who made the switch from the outfield to first base this season, is second in the conference in batting average (.427), on-base percentage (.512) and home runs (11) and is third in slugging percentage (.816). She is trying to become the first Wildcat since Brittany Lastrapes in 2009 to post a .420 average with double-digit home runs. Here are the all-time .400 seasons with 10-plus home runs in UA history.

HOME RUN U

• Arizona has hit 2,058 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 has hit 47 home runs this season, or 1.31 per game, third in the country.

BEATING THE BEST: Since 1994, Arizona is above .500 against ranked teams, top-10 teams and top-five competition. UA is 563-257-1 (.690) against ranked competition, 263-169 (.617) against top-10 teams and 129-117 (.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).