The Wildcats picked up wins against No. 18 Stanford and UC Davis
The matchup between two top 20 teams with great offensive numbers turned out to be a fairly easy one for No. 13 Arizona. The Wildcats defeated No. 18 Stanford (10-1) by the score of 4-1 behind a strong outing by pitcher Devyn Netz and an opportunistic offense. They followed it up with a 7-2 victory over UC Davis (5-6) to move to 12-1 on the season.
The score made the outing against the Cardinal appear closer than it was. The Wildcats were in control throughout. Netz struck out the first four batters she faced and didn’t give up a run until the third inning. Stanford tried to get something going in the top of the seventh, but it never felt truly dangerous.
“She just went right at them,” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said about Netz. “She had her good stuff. Trusted her stuff more than I’ve seen really this season, and just kind of went at them. I think she didn’t have to use everything. I think she kind of just attacked the weaknesses.”
Meanwhile, her counterpart was having issues with control. Stanford starter Kylie Chung hit two batters and issued a walk in the first inning but didn’t surrender any runs. The walks, wild pitches, and hit batters eventually came back to haunt her, though.
Arizona got its first run in the second off a double, a walk, and a fielder’s choice. Netz helped her own cause the next inning by scoring on a wild pitch. The Wildcats tacked on two more in the fourth on Kaiah Altmeyer’s RBI triple and another wild pitch that allowed Altmeyer to cross the plate.
“Just be patient and let them throw strikes and let them prove to me that they can throw strikes, and then from there, I can get my swing off,” Netz said about her approach in the box.
Netz kept Stanford’s offense off balance for most of the game, facing just three batters in the first, second, fourth, and fifth innings. She eventually surrendered a run on a two-out home run in the top of the seventh. It was all the Cardinal got as the Wildcats handed them their first loss of the season.
Both Netz and Lowe credited the work of pitching coach Christian Conrad in helping Arizona contain a Stanford lineup that came in with impressive offensive stats.
“We’re just taking pitch by pitch and inning by inning because that’s something that we really work on with Christian,” Netz said. “Just to think about the next three to four hitters that we’re going to face, and how we’re going to attack them, and each inning, we try to make a quick adjustment if we have to.”
Netz gave up five hits in seven innings of work. She struck out seven without issuing a walk. Three of the hits went for extra bases, but two of those came with two outs. She improved to 5-1 on the season.
Six of Arizona’s nine batters got a hit. Big 12 Player of the Week Miranda Stoddard wasn’t one of them, but she drew two walks in four plate appearances.
Things didn’t start as well for the Wildcats in the second game. Sophomore Brooke Mannon got her second start of the year but had some issues with walks. Two walks and a sacrifice put runners on the corners with two outs.
Stoddard entered the game in relief, getting the Wildcats out of the inning with a strikeout. She pitched 3.1 innings without giving up a baserunner. She struck out four. The win improved her record to 3-0.
The pitching may have started a bit slower but Arizona’s offense got off to a quick start in the second game. Sydney Stewart put the Wildcats up 2-0 with her fourth home run of the season.
Things really exploded in the home half of the second. Paige Dimler led off with a single to stretch her hitting streak to seven games. A sacrifice and a UC Davis error put runners on the corners with one out. Both were knocked in by a triple off the bat of Logan Cole.
“Usually I’m trying to move the runners, and I saw the outfield scoot in a lot for me,” Cole said. “So I was just trying to hit something far in the air with the runner on third to move them in. Hit it over their heads.”
Altmeyer drove in Cole to increase the Arizona lead to 5-0. Stewart added her third RBI of the game with a groundout that drove in Altmeyer.
The Wildcats added another run in the bottom of the fifth off Emma Kavanagh’s first career home run. It put them within a run of the run-rule. Emily Schepp’s two-out pinch-hit single kept the possibility alive, but Tayler Biehl hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Sydney Somerndike and Ryan Maddox got opportunities to steady themselves in the circle. It was Somerndike’s second outing. She gave up two earned runs without recording an out in her first appearance this season. Maddox had three strong outings to start her Arizona career but struggled in her fourth, giving up two earned runs in 0.1 IP.
Both began to find their footing this time out. Somerndike entered in the top of the fifth. She gave up a walk and a hit in 0.2 IP, but she started to find the zone as she progressed. She was lifted for Maddox after getting two outs. Maddox induced the flyout to end the inning.
Maddox came back in the top of the sixth with her team leading 7-0. She continued throwing well but her defense struggled behind her. Things started to unravel.
The leadoff reached when Altmeyer seemed to take her eye off a fly ball and it hit the turf. The next batter reached when Kiki Escobar, who had entered the game at first base, dropped the throw from Sniffen. A third error allowed a run to score when Cole threw the ball away trying to get an out at second.
“We just need to slow the game down, relax, remember that there’s really no pressure out there,” Cole said. “We’re still winning by five. I think we just need to get back into remembering you take ground balls every single day, we’ve done it for our entire life, and just relaxing.”
Arizona gave up another run in the top of the sixth when Kavanagh opted to throw out UC Davis’ Grace Kilday trying to steal second. The baserunner on third came across, but Arizona had one out and a five-run lead.
“At that point we wanted to get the out and stop the inning and get out of that inning with runners off the bases,” Lowe said. “So I was proud of her. She made a great, great throw down. Great tag by Tayler.”
Maddox walked the next batter, but she shook it off. A strikeout and a popup put an end to the sixth.
“She did phenomenal,” Lowe said. “I mean, we gave them way too many outs to work with. We didn’t play defense behind her. I thought she did a great job. I think throughout that entire time, she didn’t give up a hit, maybe one walk, but we were just giving free bases left and right. So impressed with the way she kept her composure. I expect nothing less, though. That’s just how she is, and she’s a competitor that’s going to go out there and not let anything get to her, but she did a great job of finishing.”
The freshman returned to the circle in the top of the seventh with her team still leading 7-2. She gave up one walk but held the lead for her team.
Maddox ended with two unearned runs coming across on two walks in 2.1 innings of work. She had to throw 42 pitches.
Arizona takes the field for another doubleheader on Friday evening. The Wildcats face UC Davis again to start the action. They will take on Colorado State in the nightcap.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics