NCAA REGIONAL • MAY 17-19 • TUCSON, ARIZ.
 

THE GAMES (Times MST)

	Friday, May 17
6 p.m.	G1: Auburn vs. Colorado State	TV: ESPN
8:30 p.m.	G2: ARIZONA vs. Harvard	TV: ESPN 2
	Saturday, May 18
3 p.m.	G3: G1 Winner vs. G2 Winner	TV: TBA
5: 30 p.m.	G4: G1 Loser vs. G2 Loser	TV: TBA
8 p.m.	G5: G3 Loser vs. G4 winner	TV: TBA
	Sunday, May 19
4 p.m.	G6: G3 Winner vs. G5 Winner	TV: TBA
6:30 p.m.	G7: (If Necessary)	TV: TBA

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THIS WEEK: Sixth-seeded Arizona (42-12, 19-5 Pac-12) is set to host an NCAA Regional for the 24th time in program history and fifth time in the last six years. Arizona is making its 33rd consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, the longest streak in the sport's history; the Wildcats have been in every tournament since 1987, Mike Candrea's second year on campus. The 2019 edition of the Tucson Regional will feature the Wildcats, along with Auburn, an at-large team from the SEC, Mountain West Conference Champion Colorado State and Ivy League Champion Harvard. Six or (if necessary) seven games will determine the Tucson Regional Champion and will determine who moves on to face the winner of the Oxford Regional in Supers; as a top-eight seed, Arizona would be in position to host the super regional. Arizona is in search of its 30th regional title, which would earn it the right to advance to its 14th super regional in the last 15 years.  

NCAA ACTION IN TUCSON: For the 24th time in program history, Arizona is hosting an NCAA Regional; UA has hosted seven Super Regionals. This is the third straight year and eighth in the last 10 seasons that the regional round will be held in Tucson. The Wildcats are 70-7 in NCAA Regionals held in Tucson and have advanced out of 22 of the 23 Regionals they have hosted, only failing to make it out of 2004 pod, when defeats to Oklahoma and Louisiana Lafayette ended Arizona's season. The 2004 and 2013 clubs are the only teams since 1987 to lose in regionals. All three teams are making their second trips to the Tucson Regional: Auburn (2006), Colorado State (2003), Harvard (2011).

ARIZONA IN NCAA REGIONALS: The Wildcats return to NCAA Regionals for the 33rd consecutive season, the longest streak in the sport's history. In 32 previous trips, Arizona is 167-61 in tournament play and 92-12 in the regional round. UA has won 10 straight regional games, including a 3-0 sweep of the 2018 Tucson Regional. The Cats have lost just four regional games since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 2005, all in the last five years. Arizona has failed to make it out of regionals just twice in the last 32 years (2004 and 2013).

LEADING OFF

• Arizona is making its 33rd consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, the longest active streak in the country and seven years longer than the second-longest active streak and the longest streak ever in the sport.
• The Wildcats are hosting NCAA Regionals for the third consecutive season and 24th time overall.
• Arizona is 167-62 overall in the NCAA Tournament in 32 previous appearances. The Cats are 92-12 in NCAA Regionals and 70-7 at home in the round. UA went 3-0 at the 2018 Tucson Regional, beating Saint Francis, North Dakota State and Mississippi State on its way to its 29th regional title and 13th super regional appearance in the last 14 seasons.
• The Wildcats closed the regular season on a high note, taking two-of-three from national No. 2 seed UCLA in Los Angeles, their first series win vs. the Bruins since 2011 and first series win vs. a top-five team since 2013 (Arizona State).
• Arizona finished the season 42-12, 19-5 Pac-12, while playing the nation's second-hardest schedule (.647 cumulative winning percentage).
• The Wildcats played each of the other seven top-eight seeds, the only team to play seven or more top-eight seeds. Of the top-16 seeds, UA owns wins over #2 UCLA (2), #4 Florida State, #7 Minnesota, #13 Oklahoma State and #15 Michigan and is 17-10 overall vs. this year's NCAA Tournament field.
• The Cats have now won at-least 40 games for the 31st time in the last 33 seasons. UA's 19 conference victories are the most since going 19-2 to win the 2003 Pac-10 Championship.
• Arizona junior Reyna Carranco won the 2019 Pac-12 Batting Title with her .433 regular-season batting average, becoming the first Wildcat to lead the conference in batting average since 2009 (Brittany Lastrapes - .481). Carranco remains out with a broken left hand and right thumb suffered on May 4 when she was hit by a pitch from Washington's Taran Alvelo, who also hit Carranco in 2018, breaking her nose and costing her four games. 
• Arizona placed five players on the first-team all-Pac-12 team: Reyna Carranco, Jessie Harper, Taylor McQuillin, Dejah Mulipola and Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza. The five players are second in the conference behind UCLA's seven. In only three seasons (1993, 1994, 1995) did Arizona have more first-team all-conference players.
• Malia Martinez was named second-team all-Pac-12 and Alyssa Denham was named third-team all-conference, giving Arizona seven total players honored by the conference.
• The Wildcats placed a Pac-12-most four players on the all-defensive team: Reyna Carranco, Jessie Harper, Dejah Mulipola and Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza. Arizona is ninth nationally with a .976 fielding percentage and lead the Pac-12 in fielding in league play (.986).
• Arizona has excelled in all facets of the game all year and enters the postseason as one of the most well-rounded teams in America. UA is one of two teams (Oklahoma) to be top-10 in the NCAA in ERA (7th - 1.67), scoring (8th - 6.74 runs/game) and fielding percentage (9th - .976).
• The Wildcats lead the NCAA with 99 home runs. Their next long ball will push Arizona past the 100-homer mark for the seventh time in program history. No other school has more than three 100-plus-home-run seasons.
• Arizona has two of the top eight home run hitters in the country. Jessie Harper is tied for the NCAA lead with 25 homers while Dejah Mulipola is tied for seventh with 21 homers. They are two of Arizona's four players with double-digit home runs (Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza: 15; Malia Martinez: 13).
• Arizona is seventh in the nation with a 1.67 ERA, led by ace Taylor McQuillin, a first-team all-conference pitcher. Half of McQuillin's 20 wins this season have been shutouts. The 2018 NCAA leader in shutouts (15) is 12th nationally and tops in the Pac-12 this season with 10 shutouts.
• Arizona's 99 home runs hit by its offense nearly exceed the total number of runs surrendered by its pitching staff all season (103).  
• In an unprecedented decision, Arizona's entire junior class (six players) was named Arizona Athletics' Female Junior Student-Athlete of the Year at the CATSYS, Arizona Athletics' year-end award banquet. UA's five junior position players (Reyna Carranco, Jessie Harper, Malia Martinez, Dejah Mulipola, Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza) are hitting a combined .359 with 79 total home runs and 264 RBI this season. If the five players were their own team, they would be second in the NCAA in batting average and have the eighth most home runs in the country; their 264 combined RBI is more than 222 Division I teams have scored this season.
• An Arizona junior leads the Pac-12 (or is tied for the lead) in nearly every major statistical category: batting average (Carranco - .433), RBI (Harper - 64), doubles (Palomino-Cardoza - 18), home runs (Harper - 25), total bases (Harper - 146) and walks (Mulipola - 39).
• Junior Jessie Harper enters the postseason with 62 career home runs, already eighth most in school history and 11th most in Pac-12 history. She is just the fourth Wildcat to hit her 60th career home run during her junior season; the other three are all in the top six in NCAA history in career homers.
• Harper enters the weekend third among active players in the NCAA in career home runs and is the top junior by eight homers over Florida's Kendyl Lindaman (54). Arizona has two of the top three home-run-hitting juniors in the NCAA (Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza is third among juniors and eighth overall with 50 career home runs).
• Arizona's offense is among the NCAA leaders in home runs per game (2nd - 1.83), slugging percentage (6th - .587), scoring (8th - 6.74), batting average (13th - .322) and on-base percentage (16th - .404). 
• In 24 conference games, the Wildcats outscored their Pac-12 opponents 171-40 and led the Pac-12 with a 1.59 ERA in league games. Arizona's 7.13 runs/game were its sixth most in school conference history and most since scoring 8.29 runs/Pac-12-game in 2015. Meanwhile, UA's 40 runs surrendered were its fewest surrendered in conference play since 2004 (21).
• Arizona head coach Mike Candrea enters the weekend eight 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 1,605 wins while Hutchins has 1,613 over 36 seasons of coaching. Earlier this year, Candrea moved into fifth all-time in NCAA Division I victories among all sports.

OPPONENTS
Auburn: The Tigers (37-19, 10-14 SEC) are one of 13 SEC teams in the field, tying the conference's record set last year ... AU is coming off a strong showing at the SEC Tournament with shutout victories over Missouri (3-0) and Tennessee (2-0) before falling 3-0 to eventual tournament Champion Florida ... The Tigers are led offensively by second-team all-SEC performer Kendall Veach, who hit .301 with 20 home runs and 48 RBI on the season; Casey McCrackin leads the team with a .341 batting average ... The pitchers have compiled a 2.60 ERA this season, led by Makayla Martin, who's 11-2 with a 1.31 ERA, but has been out since March 17 with an injury; Chardonnay Harris (10-6, 2.74 ERA) and Ashlee Swindle (10-8, 3.04 ERA) have been the primary pitchers in her absence ... Arizona is 4-3 all-time vs. Auburn ... The teams have plenty of postseason history; Auburn defeated Arizona two-games-to-one in the 2016 Auburn Super Regional (the teams' most recent meeting) and Arizona defeated Auburn 4-2 in the 2006 Tucson Regional on its way to a national championship.
Colorado State: The Rams (38-10, 18-6 Mountain West) earned the MWC automatic bid with their first conference title since 2003, their last NCAA Tournament appearance ... CSU has one of the best offenses in the country, ranking ninth in the country in scoring (6.71 runs/game) and 11th with a .327 batting average ... Colorado State is excellent in the circle as well, boasting a 2.43 team ERA ... Offensively, the Rams are led by Amber Nelson (.421 avg, 17 2B, 11 HR, 46 RBI) and Tara Shadowen (.372 avg, 9 2b, 14 HR, 39 RBI) while Brigette Hutton (15-6, 2.64 ERA) and Jessica Jarecki (15-2, 2.20 ERA) form a solid 1-2 punch in the circle ... Arizona is 16-0 all-time against Colorado State; most recently Taylor McQuillin threw a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts in a 3-0 Arizona win on Feb. 18, 2018 in last year's Hillenbrand Invitational. 
Harvard: The Crimson (25-17, 16-5 Ivy League) is headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season after sweeping Columbia in the Ivy League Playoff Series to take home the conference championship; the two wins last weekend were Harvard's fourth and fifth straight wins entering the NCAA Tournamnet ... Harvard is led by its offense, which has hit .291 this season, led by Meagan Lantz, who is hitting .333 with 12 doubles and four home runs ... Harvard's pitchers have struggled to 3.96 ERA, but ace Katie Duncan is 17-5 with a 2.72 ERA ... Arizona is 1-0 all-time vs. the Crimson, with their lone meeting coming in UA's first game of the 2011 Tucson Regional, a 10-0, six-inning Wildcat victory. 

LAST WEEK: Arizona took two-of-three from No. 3 UCLA in Los Angeles last weekend, winning game 1 (5-3) and game 3 (3-1), but falling in game 2 (4-5). The Cats used the long ball against the nation's No. 2 pitching staff entering the week (1.22 ERA), hitting seven home runs from six different players. Jessie Harper led the way with two homers that brought her into a tie for the NCAA lead with 25 long balls. The series win was Arizona's first since 2011 vs. the Bruins and first since 2013 vs. a top-five team (#3 Arizona State). 
Game 1 (#6 Arizona 5, #3 UCLA 3): The Cats won a back-and-forth opener, 5-3, scoring all five home runs on three home runs, the final of which, a two-run homer by Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza in the seventh inning, put the Cats ahead for good.  Palomino-Cardoza then made a diving catch on the warning track in center in the bottom of the inning to help Taylor McQuillin lock down the win, her 20th of the season.
Game 2 (#3 UCLA 5, #3 Arizona 4): The Bruins scored five runs over the third and fourth innings to erase what was a 3-0 Arizona lead early. The Cats battled back to score a run in the top of the seventh, but stranded the bases loaded in the frame to fall by one run.
Game 3 (#6 Arizona 3, #3 UCLA 1): In a game where UA's five first-team all-Pac-12 performers combined for just two singles and no RBI, it was some unusual suspects who stepped up to defeat the Bruins in game 3 to secure the series. Gina Snyder (5.0 IP, 1 R, 5 H, Win) and Alyssa Denham (2.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, Save) threw a combined gem in the circle while Hanah Bowen, Arizona's replacement for injured Reyna Carranco, hit her first career home run (for her first career RBI) that gave the Cats the lead they would not give up. 

NEW DIGS, SAME CROWD

• Arizona's fans have long been among the best in the country, filling Hillenbrand Stadium since it was originally built in 1993. The Wildcats have led the country in attendance seven times and are currently second in the NCAA this season.
• In the first season of renovated Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium, UA is averaging 2,558 fans per date this season, second to Alabama's 2,811. Arizona is approaching its school record of 2,591 fans per date in 2011.
• Arizona sold out 11 of its 12 Pac-12 games this season, including each of the final nine.