Red-Hot Wildcats Look to Sweep Utes - University of Arizona Athletics

#9 ARIZONA at UTAH
APRIL 5-7 • SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (DUMKE FAMILY SOFTBALL STADIUM)

Game Notes: #9/8 Arizona Wildcats (31-7, 11-0 Pac-12) • Utah Utes (13-23, 2-6 Pac-12)

THE GAMES (Times MST)
37 | Friday, April 5 |

13,

0 (5 inn.) | Recap | Box Score (PDF)
38 | Saturday, April 6 |

22,

1 (5 inn.) | Recap | Box Score (PDF)
39 | Sunday, April 7 (11 a.m.) |

| Pac-12 National/Arizona/Mountain | Live Stats | Twitter Updates

WEEKLY NOTES

THIS WEEK: The calendar has turned to April and the Cats are nearing the midway point of the conference season. Ninth-ranked Arizona (29-7, 9-0 Pac-12) heads to Salt Lake City for a three-game series with Utah (13-21, 2-4 Pac-12), looking to build on a season-long 11-game winning streak. The Cats, who defeated UTEP in a midweek doubleheader on Wednesday, will look to stay hot in a city where there were games rescheduled last week due to snow on the ground. The Cats and Utes will face off Friday (5 p.m. MST), Saturday (11 a.m. MST) and Sunday (11 a.m. MST) in a three-game series televised by the Pac-12 Networks.

LEADING OFF

Arizona swept Arizona State last weekend to improve to 9-0 in Pac-12 play for the fourth time in school history, joining 2017 (13-0), 2004 (9-0) and 1994 (23-0).
The Wildcats shut out the Sun Devils, who entered the week as the No. 1 team in the nation in scoring by over a run, in all three games, marking UA's first ever Pac-12 shutout sweep since the conference moved to three-game series in 2010 and UA's first full-season shutout sweep of ASU in program history.
UA followed that with a Wednesday doubleheader sweep of UTEP, allowing just one total earned run.
The Cats lowered their Pac-12 ERA to a conference-best 0.52 and their overall ERA to 1.58, eighth best in the country.
Taylor McQuillin tossed two-hit shutouts in both games 1 and 3 vs. ASU and was named Pac-12 and NFCA National Pitcher of the Week. It marked her fourth career Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week and first ever NFCA National Pitcher of the Week award.
Dating back to Alyssa Denham's no-hitter vs. Oregon State on March 24, Arizona has thrown four consecutive Pac-12 shutouts (allowing just six total hits in the process), Arizona's longest in-conference shutout streak since May 3-8, 2008. In all, Arizona's pitchers have thrown 28.2 consecutive scoreless innings in league play.
Arizona has outscored its three conference opponents 66-8 over nine games. UA's offense has hit 21 home runs while its pitchers have allowed eight total runs.
Dating back to last season, Arizona has won six consecutive Pac-12 series after its three sweeps to open conference play this season.
Arizona has won 25 of its last 28 games, with its only three losses in that span coming to the current No. 2 (Oklahoma) and No. 3 (Florida State) ranked teams in the country by a combined four runs.
The Wildcats are sixth in this week's NCAA RPI, a metric heavily relied on for NCAA Tournament seeding. UA is No. 9 in the NFCA Top 25.
Through 36 games, Arizona has played 13 games against ranked opponents and has a 8-5 record in those games. All five losses are to top-eight opponents. Despite the 1-5 record, in six games vs. (current rankings) No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Alabama and No. 8 Florida, UA has been outscored by just two runs (21-23) and has 11 more hits (40-29).
The Wildcats lead the country with 68 home runs. Their pitchers have allowed 70 total runs this season.
Arizona is the only team in the country with three players with double-digit home runs; Jessie Harper leads the Pac-12 and is tied for the NCAA lead with 19 home runs, Dejah Mulipola is third in the Pac-12 and tied for ninth in the country with 14 home runs and Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza is fourth in the league and tied for 13th nationally with 13 homers.
Arizona's offense has been heating up with the weather. Since the calendar turned to March (last 21 games), Arizona has averaged 7.76 runs/game and is hitting 2.05 home runs per game after scoring 5.33 runs and hitting 1.67 homers per game in February (15 games).
Arizona head coach Mike Candrea enters the weekend three wins shy of Michigan's Carol Hutchins for the most career wins in NCAA softball history. Candrea, who is in his 32nd year of coaching at Arizona, has won 1,592 wins while Hutchins has 1,595 over 36 seasons of coaching.

NOTES ON THE UTES (13-21, 2-4 Pac-12)

The Utes have lost eight straight games after winning the first two conference games against California to take the Pac-12-opening series.
Alyssa Barrera leads the team with a .398 average and has hit six doubles, five triples and two home runs.
Utah has a potent offense (.296 average, 4.47 runs/game) but has struggled in the circle (6.02 ERA, .317 b/avg).
The Utes have played a very difficult schedule, including nine games vs. ranked foes.

ARIZONA vs. UTAH

Arizona is 36-12 all-time against the Utes.
Arizona swept Utah last season, defeating the Utes 4-1, 9-4 and 10-3 in a three-game series at Hillenbrand Stadium (3/16-18).
The Utes have won the last two series in Salt Lake City, including taking 2-of-3 from Arizona in 2017 to end a 26-game winning streak for UA.

LAST WEEK
Arizona Shuts Out Arizona State in Three-Game Sweep

Arizona shut out Arizona State in three straight games, defeating ASU 8-0 (5 inn.) in game 1, 8-0 (5 inn.) in game 2 and 2-0 in game 3.
It was Arizona's first ever Pac-12 shutout sweep since the conference moved to three-game series in 2010 and the first time ever that Arizona shut out Arizona State in a season.
The Sun Devils' offense entered the weekend No. 1 in the country in runs (9.12 runs/game), home runs (64), and slugging percentage (.696). They managed just six hits in the series, one for extra bases.
The Wildcats' offense outscored the Sun Devils 18-0 over the three games, using six home runs (the total number of hits ASU posted) by six different players to down the Sun Devils.
Taylor McQuillin threw a pair of two-hit shutouts on the weekend, striking out 15 Sun Devils and walking just three over 12.0 innings spanning two appearances. She was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season.
Between McQuillin's two shutouts, Alyssa Denham tossed a two-hit shutout in game 2, her second straight shutout after her no-hitter vs. Oregon State on March 24. Denham kept her ERA at a prestine 0.00 in Pac-12 play.
Dejah Mulipola led the offense with a .600 average, including a double, a home run and a team-most five RBI.

Arizona Takes Two from UTEP

Arizona swept Wednesday's doubleheader with UTEP, defeating the Miners 17-1 (5 inn.) and 5-1 at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Both Jessie Harper and Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza hit two home runs in the doubleheader.
The two Harper homers tied the junior's career high in home runs and tied for the NCAA lead (19).
UA's two freshmen pitchers earned the victories in the doubleheader; Marissa Schuld earned her second career win in game 1, not allowing an earned run over four innings, while Vanessa Foreman picked up her first career win in game 2 (4.0 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 2 K).
In game 1, UA set season-high marks in runs (17) and hits (16) while cruising to a 17-1 win. Malia Martinez (6 RBI), Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza (5 RBI) and Jessie Harper (4 RBI) all homered and drove in 15 of UA's 17 runs in the game. All six of Martinez's RBI came during a 13-run second inning; she set a career-high in RBI in that inning alone.
In game 2, Arizona used Harper and Palomino-Cardoza's second homers of the doubleheader and Hillary Edior's first RBI double of 2019, to defeat UTEP, 5-1.

RANKINGS

This week, Arizona improved to ninth in NFCA Top 25 (from 11th), eighth in the USA Softball Top 25 (from ninth) and fifth in the Softball America Top 25 (from 10th).
UA is sixth in this week's NCAA RPI, up from seventh last week.
The Wildcats started the season ranked seventh in the NFCA Top 25 and Softball America Top 25 and sixth in the USA Softball Top 25.
Arizona is one of four Pac-12 teams in the top 25.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

When it's all said and done, Arizona will play what is sure to be among the toughest schedules in the country. Arizona's schedule includes each of the top seven teams from the final 2018 NFCA Top 25 (and 11 total ranked teams), 17 games against 2018 WCWS teams, 21 2018 NCAA Tournament teams and home series vs. the defending national champions (Florida State; March 8-10) and national runners up (Washington; May 3-5).
The Wildcats will play or have already played six of top eight teams in the current NFCA Top 25. In all, UA's schedule includes 11 teams currently ranked in the top 25.
Arizona played at least one ranked team in each of the first five weeks of the season, including top-10 teams in four of them. The Wildcats are currently 8-5 vs. ranked teams this year.
Since 1994, Arizona is above .500 against ranked teams, top-10 teams and top-five competition. UA is 572-267-1 (.690) against ranked competition, 266-179 (.617) against top-10 teams and 130-126 (.536) against top-five teams.