Playing your role has been the theme for No. 11 Arizona softball this season. Everyone did that on Sunday afternoon as the Wildcats rose to the occasion to defeat No. 18 Oklahoma State 3-0 and take the Big 12 series 2-1 on a day when they celebrated their alumnae.
“It’s awesome,” said Arizona head coach and decorated alumna Caitlin Lowe. “I love having the alumni on the field specifically, and you can just feel the energy and the love that everyone has for Rita Hillenbrand, for [former head coach Mike] Candrea, for the history of our program. And it’s awesome. They’re going down the high five line, and they were once in their shoes, and it feels like just this massive sisterhood, which is what we talked about this weekend.”
It was a traditional pitcher’s duel between the Cowgirls’ ace Ruby Meylan and Arizona ace Devyn Netz. Netz got help from teammates Miranda Stoddard and Aissa Silva in the circle.
The trio of Arizona pitchers allowed no runs on four hits and three walks. Netz got the win to improve to 15-4. She threw 5.2 innings of shutout softball. She allowed two hits and all three walks issued by the Wildcats’ pitching staff. She struck out one.
Stoddard got her first save of the season. She went a total of 1.2 innings, but an appearance by Silva broke up the outing into two parts. Stoddard allowed two hits. She also struck out one.
Silva only faced one batter, but she did it in an extremely high-leverage situation. Pitching the typical lefty-specialist role found in baseball, Silva entered with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the sixth. Lefty Claire Timm was coming to the plate and Arizona’s lead was just 1-0.
Silva got the out Arizona desperately needed to keep her team in front. Stoddard came back into the game for the top of the seventh.
“My mindset is just to attack,” Silva said. “I go out there with a plan. We know I’m out there for the lefties right now, and so I just know I have to go out there do my one job and really focus on that one hitter or two lefties, no matter what it is, and do what I need to do.”
The Wildcats had a bit more of a cushion when they finally got to the top of the seventh. Regan Shockey and Netz were the drivers.
Shockey led off the bottom of the sixth with an infield single. Netz came up with one on and one out. She took one pitch, then smacked the 1-0 pitch over the batter’s eye. It put Arizona up 3-0.
The insurance runs gave the Wildcats a bit of breathing room. That room was vital following game one when they led 2-0 for five innings and ended up losing the game 4-2.
“It was super important, actually,” Netz said. “So I would say that that’s a really good pitcher. She’s one of the toughest to hit in the country, and she’s tough to face, as you can tell. We’ve only scored four runs off her all weekend, and I have to tip my cap to her.”
It wasn’t the first time Shockey was in the middle of an Arizona rally. The slap-hitter got Arizona’s first RBI back in the third inning.
Tayler Biehl drew a one-out walk and stole second base. That turned over the lineup, bringing Dakota Kennedy to the plate.
Arizona’s star left fielder didn’t get a hit but she did something that’s often overlooked. Her groundball out moved Biehl to third base.
Having the runner just 60 feet from home was critical with a slapper up to bat and two outs. Shockey did her job by bouncing the ball so high off the infield dirt that there was no play on either her or the runner. Biehl crossed home plate easily to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.
Shockey didn’t think it was anything special.
“I think it’s more just trusting your stuff and trusting your team and the position they put you in,” Shockey said. “I was really lucky for Ko to move them over and just be in that position, and Tayler being on third doing her job.”
That lead held. Netz had a bit of trouble in the top of the fourth when she walked the leadoff batter, but Tia Warsop was wiped away when she tried to steal second base. Arizona challenged the play with Lowe arguing that the OSU runner left early. Replay backed up the Arizona coach. The runner was gone and Arizona had one out.
That seemed to fire up Netz. She induced a ground ball to shortstop and then got her only strikeout of the game to keep Arizona in front.
That was when Netz started to have a little more trouble retiring batters. She put two on with a walk and a single in the top of the fifth.
When Netz walked the leadoff in the top of the sixth, she switched places with Stoddard. The grad student went into the circle. The redshirt senior went to first base.
Stoddard allowed two to reach base, but she also recorded two outs. That’s when she gave way to Silva for the final out of the inning.
Stoddard came back in for the final inning. She gave up the leadoff single, but she followed with three outs on the ground to wrap up the game and the series.
The weekend’s outings against Meylan were similar to last year when the star was still pitching for the Washington Huskies. In game one of that series, Arizona was run-ruled by UW and Meylan got the win. She came back out for game three, and the Wildcats won a pitcher’s duel 2-0 with Silva getting the win and Stoddard saving the game.
The series was also redemption after Arizona’s loss in the Stillwater Super Regional last season. The Cowgirls swept the three-game series 2-0 to advance to the Women’s College World Series.
“That’s something that we talked about a lot in practice,” Netz said. “So I think that was kind of what helped us and kept us motivated.”
The series win could help Arizona’s RPI depending on what other teams around the country do. The Wildcats entered the weekend at No. 13, the highest placement of any Big 12 team. The Cowgirls were three spots back, hanging onto a ranking that could get them a chance to host regionals.
“It’s huge because it proves that we can compete and play against any team in the country,” Netz said. “And I think we’ve proven that against Texas, against Stanford, top teams that we face—especially UCLA. So I think that this series win proves that we can face any team two or three times, you name it, and we can compete.”
UA (33-7 overall) is currently second in the Big 12 standings at 10-5. Texas Tech (31-9 overall) leads the league at 11-1.
Lead photo by Ryan Kelapire