If you wanted to find a place to park, it was best to get there early. The fans found a way, filling up sold-out Hillenbrand Stadium to watch the No. 13 Arizona Wildcats face No. 1 Texas. It was worth it even if it didn’t end the way they wanted. The Longhorns won 8-4 in extra innings.
“Super proud of our team,” said Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe. “I think when you get into games like that—I mean, that’s a post-season environment, it’s a World Series environment, and those games come down to inches. And I think that’s what it came down to today. We were inches away from a good first inning, inches away from scoring to not even let the game go that far.”
The No. 13 Wildcats got a strong pitching performance from Devyn Netz in relief, but a lack of offense after the first inning cost them their second loss of the season.
Miranda Stoddard got the start and looked on point. She retired the first two batters. A two-out single extended the inning. A throwing error by Jenna Sniffen followed, putting two on with two outs.
Stoddard followed that by hitting a batter to load the bases, but she still just needed one out. She couldn’t get it.
A single brought two runs in. Another single brought in a third run. All three runs were unearned, but the string ended Stoddard’s time in the circle.
Netz, who started the game as the designated player, swapped places with Stoddard. Netz took the circle; Stoddard became the DP. The change paid off with Netz ending the inning on a strikeout.
“Just keep my team and keep my offense within the game, honestly,” Netz said about her mindset entering the game. “If that makes sense. I just want to get out of that situation. I just wanted to show my team. You know what? We’re here. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s the first inning. We still have a lot of ball game left, and that’s exactly what we did.”
The team may have felt like there was still a lot of game to play, but it wouldn’t be out of line to think the hill in front of them was steep.
Teagan Kavan took the circle for Texas. The sophomore had difficulty against No. 18 Stanford on Friday, but she’s been a superb college pitcher since she stepped on campus, helping lead the Longhorns to the championship series in Oklahoma City last year.
The Wildcats didn’t let it bother them in the first. Kaiah Altmeyer led off with a single to center field. Regan Shockey followed with another single. Sydney Stewart tied it up on the first pitch she saw, sending the ball out to center.
Kavan gave up a two-out single to Paige Dimler to extend Dimler’s hitting streak to 10 games, but she kept the damage to three runs.
Both pitchers kept the offenses off-balance for the next four innings. The best opportunity for either was a two-out bases loaded situation for Arizona in the bottom of the fifth.
Texas finally broke through in the top of the sixth. Again it came with two outs.
Netz got a groundout and a popup from the first two Longhorn batters. A single and a wild pitch put a runner in scoring position. A pinch-hit double gave Texas the 4-3 lead.
When Netz put the following batter on with an uncharacteristic walk, she was lifted for Swain and moved to first base. Netz issued two walks in the game, doubling her season total to four in 32.2 innings. She has struck out 32.
Swain got the Wildcats out of the inning with a strikeout, keeping the deficit at one run.
Netz singled to lead off the home half of the inning, but Arizona couldn’t move the runner beyond first base. The Wildcats needed three outs and to get something done in the home half of the seventh.
Swain gave up two singles in the top of the seventh, but she kept the Longhorns from extending their lead. And the Wildcats got something done in the home half of the inning.
Logan Cole led off with a double to left that needed maybe a foot more to turn into a home run. It didn’t matter, though, because Kaiah Altmeyer followed with her own double to score Cole and tie the game.
Texas got one out, but Altmeyer was still in scoring position with Stewart coming up. Longhorn coach Mike White didn’t want to let the first-inning home run hitter get another look at Kavan. The sophomore left the circle and Citlaly Gutierrez took over. Gutierrez got the two outs they needed to send the game to extra innings.
The eighth was played with the international tiebreaker which puts a runner on second base to start each extra inning. A single moved that runner to third, putting runners on the corners with no outs, but the Arizona defense rose to the occasion.
Katie Cimusz reached on a fielder’s choice, but Cole gunned down the runner trying to score. Texas bounced back, drawing the one-out walk to load the bases.
A sacrifice fly scored the go-ahead run for the Longhorns. The next at-bat was a two-out home run to hang three insurance runs on the board. Texas had the four-run lead.
When Swain gave up a single to the next batter, Netz returned to the circle. A flyout ended the inning without any more damage.
The Arizona offense wasn’t able to respond in the bottom of the inning. The runner that was placed on second to start the inning never moved. A strikeout and two flyouts gave the Longhorns their third win against a ranked team.
Stoddard pitched 0.2 innings. She gave up three hits and three runs, but all three runs were unearned.
Netz threw 5.1 innings of one-run ball. She walked two and struck out two. She also went 2 for 4 at the plate.
Altmeyer and Shockey also had multi-hit games. Both outfielders went 2 for 4 and scored a run. Altmeyer had one RBI.
Swain took the loss to drop her record to 2-1 on the season. She gave up four earned runs in two innings. She struck out two and walked one.
Arizona finishes the Hillenbrand Invitational with another game against Stanford on Sunday morning. The Wildcats beat the Cardinal 4-1 on Thursday.
“We have a big game and a big test tomorrow,” Lowe said.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics