May 28, 2011
Tucson - .
Mike Candrea coached teams had made 21 straight Women's College World Series before Oklahoma came to town for this weekend's Super Regional. The Sooners needed just two games to keep Candrea from making his 22nd straight WCWS appearance and Arizona from making its 23rd appearance in the last 24 years. Oklahoma beat Arizona 5-2 on Saturday to finish off the Cats after beating them 6-0 on Friday.
Assistant Coach Larry Ray coached the teams in 2004 and 2008 while Coach Candrea coached Team USA. Ray guided the Cats to a WCWS in 2008 but failed to take the team in 2004.
The Cats dropped their first Super Regional in the round's history, falling to 6-1 in the round, posting an overall record of 12-5 in the games.
Much like Friday, Arizona had its chances. It left 11 runners on base and was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. UA got its hits, but hardly ever in the right spots. UA and Oklahoma each had eight hits.
Arizona's lone runs of the Super Regional came in its last trip to the plate of the weekend, off a two-run Lini Koria home run with two out in the visiting half of the seventh.
UA finished the season 43-18. The 18 losses tie for the third most in Candrea's tenure at the UA (The 2008 and 1989 teams lost 19 games apiece). The 43 wins are the second most since 1987 (The 2008 team won 41 games).
Kenzie Fowler went the distance for Arizona, allowing five runs on eight hits in six innings. Fowler dropped to 26-9 on the year.
Keilani Ricketts excelled in the circle and at the plate, going 13.2 innings before giving up a run. She hit two home runs in the series, including a two-run homer in the bottom of the first in Saturday's game. Ricketts improved to 29-13 with the victory.
Oklahoma (43-17) advanced to its sixth Women's College World Series with the win.
Brittany Lastrapes played with a broken hand for three innings before being removed from the game. She sustained the injury when she was hit in the hand by a pitch in Friday's contest. Lastrapes batted second today for the first time in her career while Lauren Schutzler took her leadoff spot.
In the first, Schutzler drew a leadoff walk and got to third via a sac bunt and wild pitch. She would be stranded there, though when Arizona's three and four hitters could not bring her home.
Oklahoma would get a runner in scoring position as well in the home half of the first with a single and Wildcat error on a hit to left field by Brianna Turang. Keilani Ricketts would hit her home with a home run to left field.
Koria drew a leadoff walk to begin the second. Arizona got runners on first and second but Matte Haack struck out to end the threat.
Two-out hits by Brigette Del Ponte and Stacie Chambers and a walk to Lini Koria loaded the bases for Kristen Arriola. The junior popped out to first base to strand three more.
Oklahoma got its first two runners of the bottom of the fourth. A one-out hit loaded the bases with only one out for the top of the order. Destinee Martinez hit a two-run single to give Oklahoma a 4-0 lead. An error on a routine grounder to second base gave OU a 5-0 lead. A walk loaded the bases for Ricketts with one out. Ricketts, who had already had two homers in the series, popped out to third base. A sliding catch in left field by Karissa Buchanan stranded the bases loaded.
UA put runners on the corners in the sixth with one out but two consecutive Ricketts' strikeouts ended the inning.
Arizona got its first runs of the Super Regional when Lini Koria scraped a home run over the right field fence, a two-run shot to cut Oklahoma's lead to 5-2. Arizona would get one more runner on, but did not pressure OU any further as the Sooners recorded the last out, a fielder's choice off the bat of Buchanan to end Arizona's season.
Arizona graduates four seniors, Stacie Chambers, Victoria Kemp, Brittany Lastrapes and Lauren Schutzler, but otherwise returns six regular starters, including pitcher Fowler.
UA finished the season 43-18. The 18 losses tie for the third most in Candrea's tenure at the UA (The 2008 and 1989 teams lost 19 games apiece). The 43 wins are the second most since 1987 (The 2008 team won 41 games).
Post-Game Quotes:
Arizona Coach Mike Candrea:
"Tomorrow, I leave for the All American committee meeting, then I'll come back, meet with every kid. Nothing is going to stay the same. It's our job to get better. Oklahoma did a good job, and played with calm confidence, and executed when they needed to."
"This weekend found our holes. Brittany (Lastrapes) came in yesterday evening, told me her hand was broken, and that was not what I wanted to hear. We tried to make a go of it, but couldn't. There are definitely weaknesses in our lineup, and to go to the World Series, you have to produce one through nine. Oklahoma's eight and nine hitters produiced, and that's what you need to happen to be successful."
"I'm very proud of Lauren Schutzler. She played her butt off this weekend, had a good game. I'm sorry Brittany couldn't have finished stronger, but she gave us four good years. Stacie Chambers set records for us, but she struggled in the big games. I thought we'd gotten her past that, but it just didn't happen."
Arizona third baseman Brigette Del Ponte:
"After the first inning, I think we all thought we were going to come back, but we just couldn't get there. For me, I knew Ricketts wasn't going to give me anything good to hit. All her first and second pitches were strikes."
"Before, when we played against Ricketts, her ball dropped more, or I was just better at seeing the balls. They were having fun out there, and we should have done a better job with that."
Arizona outfielder Lauren Schutzler
"This game, we knew we were close every inning, and every inning we thought we were going to get through. In the Super Regionals, it's very hard to score runs when you're down five. It's a really tough place for a team to come back from."
"We are pretty contagious when it comes to hitting, but we just couldn't get the timely hits like they did. We knew Oklahoma was a good team, and they proved it. They definitely deserve to go to the World Series. We are a talented team too, but we should have competed better. They're going to have a good run out there, and if they do win it, then there's really not much for us to say."
"This season has taught me a lot as a person. You get what you deserve, and we just didn't put the work in during the off season."
Oklahoma Coach Patty Gasso:
"I'm just really filled with emotions. I'm happy. I'm filled with relief and I'm proud. I just have a lot of feelings. I'm excited for our team. I'm excited for our program. We have been knocking on the door for a long time."
"We knew coming in it wasn't going to be easy. We have a lot of respect for Arizona and their program. We knew we would have to be good. I was worried about how our younger players might handle themselves, the weather, the environment and the arena and how we would handle ourselves, and I think they did an excellent job. I'm proud of them."
Oklahoma utility player Chana'e Jones
"We've been through a lot of adversity and we have strong will people who go after it. Everyone in that dugout has been a part of it. I don't know what to say right now. The Texas game was a huge turning point. We were clicking out bats, our pitching staff has been great, everything just clicked." (Against Fowler) We just waited to get good pitches and be decisive. She's a great pitcher and we had a great game plan coming in."
Oklahoma pitcher Keilani Ricketts
"When we were up by three I decided to have the same focus and stay confident and let the defense do their work. I knew I couldn't fall apart then on my team. We are just having fun and keeping it simple and not thinking about anything. (From my losses) I've just gotten stronger from my losses and learned from them."
