Arizona softball battles conditions, LMU to secure comeback win

The fog didn’t come in on little cat feet. It was more like big lions’ feet. Arizona softball overcame both the conditions and Loyola Marymount to secure its 16th win of the season.

With visibility such a challenge, it would seem like pitchers would have had the upper hand in the contest between the Wildcats and the Lions. Instead, the two teams combined for 13 runs in a 7-6 comeback victory for No. 12 Arizona on Wednesday evening.

The Lions were even with or ahead of Arizona almost all night. They jumped on top in the first inning. When the Wildcats came back to tie the game, LMU found a way to take the lead again. Then came the seventh inning.

Arizona was down to its final three outs and trailing 6-5. A loss would be its first to a team that was unranked in all four polls at the time of the contest. It would mean losing to a team that sports a 6-10 record, although three of those losses came against ranked teams. It would also be a bad start to a week that will include games against two more ranked teams.

Senior outfielder Paige Dimler led off the top of the seventh with a single. It was her third hit of the day, starting a new hitting streak after her 10-game streak came to an end against Stanford on Sunday. More importantly, it put the tying run on base with no outs.

Third baseman Jenna Sniffen sacrificed Dimler to second. Tayler Biehl was hit by a pitch to put two on with one out. Logan Cole reached on an error to load the bases. There was still just one out.

Kaiah Altmeyer had been having an up-and-down day at the plate. While she had a hit, she also struck out in a critical situation. She just needed to lift a ball to the outfield to tie things up this time. She came through, as she has so many times this season.

Altmeyer’s sacrifice fly scored Dimler to tie the game at six runs apiece. Now it was Regan Shockey’s turn with two runners on and two outs.

Shockey put a ground ball through the right side of the infield to score Biehl from second base. Arizona had its first lead of the night.

The Wildcats held on despite a little bit of drama in the bottom of the inning. Devyn Netz struck out the first batter but allowed two straight singles after that. Arizona was in danger of being walked off.

Izzy Jamgotchian was at the plate. She leads LMU with four home runs. Behind her was Mika Chong, who already had one home run in the game.

Netz threw one ball to Jamgotchian. The next three pitches were all strikes. There were two outs.

Chong got to try now. She didn’t strike out but her groundout to the right side was just as effective. Arizona had survived the upset bid.

Miranda Stoddard was superb in her two innings of work against Stanford just two days before. That didn’t carry over to Arizona’s first road game. She gave up six earned runs on seven hits and a walk in 3.2 innings. It raised her ERA from 1.27 to 2.73.

Netz got the win to improve to 7-1 this year. She pitched 3.1 innings of relief. She gave up no runs on three hits and one walk. She struck out four.

Stoddard struggled from the beginning. The grad student retired the Lions’ first batter but gave up two singles and a home run to put her team in a 3-0 hole in the bottom of the first inning.

The Wildcats responded in the top of the second. Dimler led off with her first hit of the night. Sniffen put two in scoring position with a single and a Lions’ throwing error. There were no outs.

Biehl has started the year cold in the box, hitting just .147 in the Wildcats’ first 17 games. Despite that, Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe has generally been happy with the shortstop’s at-bats. She said they would eventually fall.

One of them fell this time. Biehl got the RBI single to score Arizona’s first run.

Two batters later, Altmeyer doubled to center field, driving in two runs. However, the left fielder got greedy and tried to turn it into a triple. She was thrown out at third for the second out of the inning.

Shockey followed with a single, but Stewart struck out in her second at-bat. Arizona might have gotten more without the baserunning error, but at least it was a tied ballgame.

Stoddard appeared to have settled down. She went through the second and third innings facing the minimum number of batters, but things got difficult again in the fourth.

It started with a leadoff walk. The second batter tried to sacrifice the runner over, but Stoddard chose to go for the lead runner. Biehl wasn’t quite able to stay on the bag and both runners were safe. The Lions had two on with no outs.

LMU loaded the bases without a ball leaving the infield when Sakora Harvell laid down a bunt single.

Arizona started the game with Netz at first base, Stewart at designated player, and Emily Schepp getting her first start behind the plate this season. With the bases loaded, Stewart shifted to first base and Netz became the DP. Netz went to the bullpen to warm up.

It was too late. A groundout to the right side allowed one run to score, putting LMU on top again. The next at-bat was more of the same. An RBI groundout put yet another run on the board for the Lions. They led 5-3.

It still wasn’t over. An RBI single gave LMU a three-run cushion yet again. Yet another single put two runners on with two outs.

Netz was finally ready. She entered for Stoddard. Stoddard moved to first base. Stewart went back to DP.

Netz got the final out of the inning on a fielder’s choice. Arizona had work to do once again.

For the second time in the game, the Wildcats responded immediately after letting LMU score. Stewart was the catalyst. She led off the top of the fifth with her seventh home run of the season, matching her total career home runs in two years at Washington. She had five in 45 games last year.

Netz drew a walk but was wiped away by Schepp’s fielder’s choice. Dimler’s second hit of the day put two on.

Sniffen stepped in with one on and one out. Her single drove in Schepp from second to make it a one-run game.

Stoddard moved both runners up with a groundout. Emma Kavanagh followed with a pinch-hit walk on four straight balls to load the bases, but Altmeyer ended the inning with just her fourth strikeout of the year.

Netz gave up a walk and a single in the fifth and sixth, but she faced just six batters when her catcher helped wipe them out. Schepp threw out an attempted base stealer in each inning to help set up the comeback opportunity for the Wildcats.

Arizona will stay in California for its next five games. The Wildcats start play at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton on Friday, Feb. 28. First up is a doubleheader against the Weber State Wildcats and Cal State Fullerton. UA has played CSF twice this season, beating the Titans both times.

Arizona will face Notre Dame and No. 4 UCLA on Saturday, Mar. 1. They finish up with a game against No. 23 San Diego State on Sunday, Mar. 2.

While the Fullerton game will be on ESPN+, the ability to watch or follow stats for the other four games is unclear. Arizona does not have that information on its schedule. The host school does not list non-Fullerton tournament games on its schedule at all.

Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics