From team success – eight national championships, 23 trips to the Women's College World Series, 18 50-plus win seasons – to individual accomplishments – five national players of the year, 105 All-Americans, 10 Olympians – Arizona softball's tradition and history can stack up with just about any program in any sport at any level.
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Softball royalty has walked in and out of Hillenbrand Stadium for decades, with some of the sport's best players composing some of the sport's best teams over the last three decades.
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So now we're asking you to do the impossible, choose the best of the best (actually, the impossible was narrowing the many possibilities to just four in each category, and I'm sure there will be no grievances with the choices). Starting on Tuesday, we will be asking fans to vote on the
BEST OF THE BESTÂ in the following categories.
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6/9 –
BEST TEAM (
Winner: 1997)
6/11 –
BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASON (
Winner: Jennie Finch, 2001)
6/13 –
BEST GAME (
Winner: Arizona 1, Tennessee 0 - 10 innings)
6/15 –
BEST POWER HITTER (
Winner: Katiyana Mauga)
6/18 –
BEST SLAPPER (
Winner: Caitlin Lowe)
6/21 –
BEST PITCHER (
Winner: Alicia Hollowell)
6/24 –
BEST UNIFORM (Winner announced 6/28)
6/27 – BEST PLAYER FROM THE 1980s (Winner announced 7/1)
6/30 – BEST PLAYER FROM THE 1990s (Winner announced 7/4)
7/3 – BEST PLAYER FROM THE 2000s (Winner announced 7/7)
7/6 – BEST PLAYER FROM THE 2010s (Winner announced 7/10)
7/11 – BEST PLAYER OVERALL (Winner announced 7/14)
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BEST TEAM
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Team #1: 1994
Record: 64-3
Number to know: 6 – Arizona set a record with the maximum six first-team All-Americans in 1994. The Wildcats had twice as many first-team All-Americans as they had total losses on the year (3).
Postseason accomplishments: National Champions – Arizona went a perfect 7-0 in postseason play, allowing two total runs, both in a semifinal game vs. UCLA, before shutting out Cal State Northridge 4-0 to win its second straight national championship.
In two sentences: Any way you look at it, the 1994 Arizona Wildcats and their 64-3 record and conference and national championships are in the conversation for best team in NCAA history. Three eventual national players of the year – Jenny Dalton, Nancy Evans and Susie Parra – were on the roster, as were the only three players in NCAA history to drive in more than 305 runs in their careers – Dalton, Leah Braatz and Laura Espinoza.
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Team #2: 1995
Record: 66-6
Number to know: 4 – Arizona's 1995 lineup still holds four different NCAA records – runs scored (629), hits (765), total bases (1,216) and RBI (566).
Postseason accomplishments: National Runner-Up – Arizona run-ruled every single team in the postseason on its way to the national championship game. Top-ranked Arizona fell to UCLA in a championship that was later vacated by the NCAA. The loss to the illegitimate Bruins would keep the Wildcats from a five-peat from 1993-1997.
In two sentences: The 1995 Arizona Wildcats changed college softball, which had been dominated by pitchers until the Wildcats became the first team in NCAA history to blast 100 homers in 1995, led by Laura Espinoza's still-standing NCAA-record 37. Arizona outscored its opponents 520 total runs, more than seven runs per game, the most in UA history.
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Team #3: 1997 (WINNER • 48% of the vote)
Record: 61-5
Number to know: 47 – Arizona won its first 30 games of the season after winning the final 17 games of the 1996 season, good for an incredible 47-game winning streak over the two seasons, the longest in school history.
Postseason accomplishments: National Champions – After dominating the Tucson Regional, Arizona went 4-1 in the Women's College World Series, defeating UCLA 10-2 in five innings and becoming the first team to run-rule an opponent in the national championship game.
In two sentences: Arizona nearly went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the land, falling to No. 2 for just two weeks, picking up a Pac-10 title on its way to the NCAA Championship, winning 61 games against just five losses in the process. Arizona went an amazing 27-1 in conference play, the best record in league history.
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Team #4: 2001
Record: 65-4
Number to know: 32-0 – Jennie Finch completed the best perfect season in NCAA history, winning all 32 of her decisions in one of the best individual seasons the sport has ever seen.
Postseason accomplishments: National Champions – Arizona won the final 26 games of 2001, including a perfect 8-0 postseason run, concluded by a 1-0 shutout of second-ranked UCLA in the title game.
In two sentences: Jennie Finch's dominance in the circle and subsequent Honda Award highlighted one of the best overall team seasons in NCAA history, but the Cats brought it in all three phases – their .981 fielding percentage led the nation and remains the best mark in UA history and the offense set a then-NCAA record with 126 home runs. The Wildcats were led by five All-Americans – Lauren Bauer, Finch, Nicole Giordano, Leneah Manuma and Toni Mascarenas.
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VOTE CLOSED
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BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASON
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Season #1: Jenny Dalton, 1996
Number to know:Â
1.567 – Dalton had an almost unbelievable 1.567 OPS, slugging .967, third highest in Arizona history, while posting a .600 on-base percentage, helped out by a school-record 64 walks.
Season Honors: National Player of the Year, Pac-10 Player of the Year, Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player, All-American (1st Team), All-Pac-10 (1st Team), All-Region (1st Team), NCAA Woman of the Year State Winner
In two sentences:Â In 1996, Dalton accomplished something that had never been done, and has never been done since, winning the Pac-10 triple crown with an amazing .469 average, 25 home runs and 109 RBI. Dalton accomplished just about all there was to accomplish that season, leading the Wildcats to the NCAA Championship and was named national and conference player of the year while earning WCWS MVP along the way.
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Season #2: Laura Espinoza, 1995
Number to know: 37 – Laura Espinoza hit an NCAA-record 37 home runs, a record that no one has approached since; she continues to hold the record by five homersÂ
Season Honors: Fastpitch World Player of the Year, Pac-10 Player of the Year, Honda Award Finalist, All-American (1st Team), All-Pac-10 (1st Team), All-Region (1st Team)
In two sentences: In 1995, Laura Espinoza had perhaps the best run-producing season in NCAA history, crushing the national records in both home runs (37) and RBI (128), records that have never been in danger since. Espinoza wrapped up her career in 1995 as the most prolific power hitter of her time, helped out by the best individual season the sport had ever seen.
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Season #3: Jennie Finch, 2001 (WINNER • 48% of the vote)
Number to know: 32 – Jennie Finch went a perfect 32-0 in 2001, the best perfect season in NCAA history
Season Honors: National Player of the Year, Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year, All-American (1st Team), All-Pac-10 (1st Team), All-Region (1st Team), Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player
In two sentences: In 2001, Jennie Finch put together the best perfect season in NCAA history, going 32-0, culminating with a shutout of UCLA in the WCWS championship game, helping her win WCWS MVP honors. Finch had a career-best 0.54 ERA, the best ERA by any UA pitcher since the turn of the century, and 279 strikeouts.
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Season #4: Alison McCutcheon, 1997
Number to know:Â
132 – Alison McCutcheon set the NCAA record with 132 hits in 1997
Season Honors: Pac-10 Player of the Year, All-American (1st Team), All-Pac-10 (1st Team), All-Region (1st Team), All-Women's College World Series
In two sentences: In 1997, Alison McCutcheon tormented opposing defenses to the tune of 132 hits, the most in NCAA history, while hitting an unheard of .534 in 247 at-bats. Her .547 average still stands as the Arizona and Pac-12 record, and her record of 132 hits will likely never be touched; only three Wildcats -- Lauren Bauer, Brittany Lastrapes and
Caitlin Lowe -- have had more than 100 hits this century, and none of them had more than 105.
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BEST GAME
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Game #1: Arizona 1, UCLA 0 • May 31, 1993
Number to know:Â
1 – Arizona won the 1993 National Championship with a 1-0 shutout of UCLA on just one hit, a first-inning RBI single from Leah O'Brien
Standout performance: All-American pitcher Susie Parra silenced the big bats of the defending champion Bruins, pitching seven shutout innings and fanning six while allowing just two hits in the title game.Â
In two sentences:Â A game that is often referenced to this day by Coach Candrea, Arizona used pitching (a Susie Parra two-hit shutout), defense (no errors) and timely hitting (O'Brien's single that followed an error and a sacrifice bunt) to win a national championship with just a single hit. The Wildcats' win over UCLA gave Arizona its second national title in three years and was just another nail-biting matchup in what was a budding rivalry.
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Game #2: Arizona 12, UCLA 9 (9 innings) • May 6, 2000
Number to know:Â 8
 – Arizona stormed back from an eight-run deficit to defeat UCLA in the biggest comeback in school history
Standout performance: Lauren Bauer hit a three-run walkoff home run to end the game in the bottom of the ninth
In two sentences: Six outs from an incredibly rare mercy loss at home, Arizona stormed back from a 9-1 deficit, scoring four runs in the fourth to extend the game, and four more in the sixth to tie the game. Meanwhile, Becky Lemke kept the Bruins' bats at bay, and the eight straight Wildcat runs sent the game into extra innings, where Lauren Bauer would hit a walk-off three run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete the improbable comeback.
Game #3: Arizona 1, Tennessee 0 (10 innings) • June 5, 2007 (WINNER • 69% of the vote)
Number to know: 14 – Taryne Mowatt stranded 14 Volunteer baserunners in a 10-inning shutout
Standout performance: In the midst of a record-breaking week in Oklahoma City, Taryne Mowatt's most impressive performance came with her 10-inning shutout of Tennessee to keep the Wildcats alive, stranding 14 runners, finding huge pitches to get out of jams in her exhausted right arm
In two sentences: With its backs against the wall, Arizona clawed to a gutty 1-0, 10-inning win to stay alive in the 2007 championship series. The Wildcats were struggling to solve Monica Abbott, who had defeated them twice that week and had thrown 23.1 consecutive shutout innings against UA when, in the top of the 10th, Danielle Rodriguez raced home ahead of the throw on a grounder off the bat of Adrienne Acton to win, 1-0, and force a game 3.
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Game #4: Arizona 7, Minnesota 6 (8 innings) • May 17, 2005
Number to know:Â
9 – Arizona's seniors, who were facing the potential of playing the final game of their careers, had nine of Arizona's 11 hits in the game.
Standout performance: Chelsea Goodacre's two-run game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh inning was one of the most dramatic home runs in Hillenbrand Stadium history
In two sentences: Just hours after Minnesota hit a walkoff grand slam in game 6 to force the seventh, win-or-go-home game of the regional, the Golden Gophers once again scored four runs in the seventh inning, turning Arizona's 4-2 lead into a 6-4 desperate deficit. With UA's season on the line, Chelsea Goodacre hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to save the season and send the game to an extra inning where Chelsea Suitos hit a one-out triple and scored the winning run on Kellie Fox's walk-off single.
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BEST POWER HITTER
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Player #1: Laura Espinoza
Years:Â
1992-95
Number to know: 37 – Laura Espinoza hit a mind-numbing 37 home runs in the 1995 season; they remain the NCAA record by a five-homer margin
In two sentences:Â After hitting 18 homers total during her freshman and sophomore seasons, Laura Espinoza became the first player in NCAA history to hit 20 home runs in a season, finishing her junior year with 30 home runs and then out-doing herself with an incredible 37 long balls as a senior in 1997. Her 67 homers in a two-year span are the most ever and her 85 total home runs are tied for third most in Arizona history and tied for fifth most in NCAA history.
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Player #2: Stacie Chambers
Years: 2008-11
Number to know: 87 – During her senior season, Chambers broke Laura Espinoza and Leah Braatz' 13-year-long shared school record, blasting 87 career home runs, which was, at the time, second-most in NCAA history
In two sentences: The best lefty power hitter that softball has ever seen, Stacie Chambers hit 87 home runs in her four-year Arizona career, currently fourth most in NCAA history. Chambers had at least 20 home runs in each of her final three seasons at Arizona, but the heavy lifting in her career came when she hit 31 home runs in just 63 games during her sophomore season (2009); her 31-homer sophomore season ranks fourth in NCAA history (and second in Arizona and Pac-12 history). Â
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Player #3: Katiyana Mauga (WINNER • 33% of the vote)
Years: 2014-17
Number to know: 20 –Â
Katiyana Mauga hit at least 20 home runs in all four years of her Arizona career (20 - 26 - 21 - 25), the only player in NCAA history to accomplish the featÂ
In two sentences:Â
Katiyana Mauga, the most prolific home run hitter in Pac-12 history, is the only Wildcat in the exclusive 90-home run club; she finished her career three home runs shy of the NCAA record. Mauga's 92 home runs from 2014-17 broke Chambers' school record and UCLA slugger Stacey Nuveman's long-time Pac-12 record of 90. Â
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Years: 2017-current
Number to know:Â
0.37 –
Jessie Harper has averaged 0.37 home runs per game in her Arizona career, that ranks second in school history, just behind Mauga's 0.38 she averaged in her career
In two sentences:Â In 2021,
Jessie Harper has a chance to rewrite history books; her 76 career home runs sit 16 home runs behind
Katiyana Mauga's Arizona and school record (92) and 19 home runs shy of Lauren Chamberlain's NCAA record (95). But whether she reaches those milestones or not, Harper has cemented herself as one of the best power hitters this sport has ever seen; she led the country with 29 home runs in 2019 and has finished first or second in the Pac-12 in homers in all four of her seasons.
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BEST SLAPPER
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Player #1: Amy Chellevold
Years:Â
1992-95
Number to know: 4 – Amy Chellevold was Arizona's first ever four-time All-American
In two sentences:Â In the early days of slapping, almost nobody did it better than Amy Chellevold, who had an incredibly decorated career in the cardinal and navy. Chellevold was the first player in Arizona history to hit over .500 in a season, recording 122 hits (second in Arizona history) in just 242 at-bats, good for a .504 batting average in 1994, helping her to the then-UA record, .415 career average.
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Player #2: Alison McCutcheon
Years:Â
1995-98
Number to know: 405 – Alison McCutcheon is the only player in NCAA history to record over 400 hits; she remains the NCAA career record holder with 405 hits
In two sentences: Perhaps the most accomplished slapper in NCAA softball history, three-time first-team All-American Alison McCutcheon was one of the most difficult outs this sport has ever seen. McCutcheon hit a Pac-12-record .466 in her career, helped out by a seemingly-impossible .534 average in 1997 - also a Pac-12 record.
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Player #3: Autumn Champion
Years: 2003-06
Number to know: 314 –Â
Katiyana Mauga hit at least 20 home runs in all four years of her Arizona career (20 - 26 - 21 - 25), the only player in NCAA history to accomplish the featÂ
In two sentences:Â When you talk about short game in this history of this program and the history of the sport, the name Autumn Champion is one of the first that comes to mind. From 2003-06, Champion, a two-time first-team All-American, hit .417 in 575 at-bats, and helped lead the Wildcats to the 2006 National Championship.
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Player #4: Caitlin Lowe (WINNER • 79% of the vote)
Years: 2004-07
Number to know:Â
.446 –
Caitlin Lowe hit .446 in her Wildcat career, the best career batting average by anyone in NCAA Softball in the last 15 years (minimum 780 at-bats)
In two sentences:Â Recently named the best centerfielder in the history of NCAA Softball,
Caitlin Lowe is perhaps the best to ever to do it from the left side of the plate. One of two four-time first-team All-Americans in Arizona history, Lowe accomplished about everything she could have accomplished in her Wildcat career, winning Pac-10 Player, Newcomer and Defensive Player of the Year over the course of three seasons and led the Wildcats to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007.
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BEST PITCHER
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Pitcher #1:Â Susie Parra
Years:Â
1991-94
Number to know: 0.30 – Susie Parra had a 0.30 ERA in 1992, the Arizona recordÂ
In two sentences:Â Arizona's first national player of the year (1994), Susie Parra was one of the game's first dominant aces, pitching the Wildcats to three national titles in her career, including back-to-back titles in 1993 and 1994 when she was among the best pitchers in the country. Parra, who went 101-9 in her career, ended her career with a miniscule 0.63 ERA, second lowest in school history (and lowest by any four-year player).
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Pitcher #2: Nancy Evans
Years:Â
1994-98
Number to know:Â .
939 – Nancy Evans went 124-8 in her Arizona career, a .939 career winning percentage - the best in NCAA history
In two sentences:Â Nancy Evans' 124 career victories are the second most in Arizona history while her eight losses are the fewest by any Wildcat pitcher with at least 70 wins. Evans, the 1998 National Player of the Year, was also an accomplished hitter, hitting .339 over 790 at-bats in her career; she was a first-team All-American in 1997 and 1998.
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Pitcher #3: Jennie Finch
Years:Â
1999-02
Number to know:Â
60 – Jennie Finch won a remarkable 60 consecutive games from 2000-2002, the longest winning streak in NCAA history
In two sentences:Â Arizona's only two-time National Player of the Year winner (2001 and 2002), Jennie Finch is potentially the best two-way pitcher to ever play the sport. Finch, a three-time All-American and two-time Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year, went 119-16 in her Arizona career with a 1.09 ERA; she was the first Wildcat to strike out 1,000 (1,028) in her career.
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Pitcher #4: Alicia Hollowell (WINNER • 54% of the vote)
Years: 2003-06
Number to know:Â
1,768 – Alicia Hollowell struck out 1,768 batters in Arizona career, the school record by over 500 strikeouts
In two sentences: Arizona's career record holder in nearly every pitching statistic, Alicia Hollowell is one of the most dominant right-handed pitchers in the history of the game. Hollowell, a three-time All-American and 2004 Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year, won 144 games in her Arizona career, the most in school history, winning 81 of those games via the shutout - 16 of those were no-hitters (both the most in school history).
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BEST UNIFORM
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Uniform #1:Â Classic White
Uniform #2:Â New White
Uniform #3:Â Classic Blue
Uniform #4:Â Classic Red
Uniform #5:Â Light Gray
Uniform #6:Â Dark Gray
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