Arizona softball took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and tried to make it last against Oklahoma State on Friday evening. The No. 11 Wildcats almost did it, carrying their lead into the top of the seventh before the No. 18 Cowgirls came storming back to take the opening game of a three-game series by the score of 4-2.
“I was proud of our fight tonight,” said Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe. “I don’t think we gave away very many at-bats, and we just need to execute a couple more times and control the seventh inning with a little bit better composure.”
It wasn’t a traditional pitcher’s duel. There were far too many hits and walks for that. There was a derth of runs, though.
OSU ace Ruby Meylan surrendered five hits and eight walks. Arizona ace Devyn Netz gave up nine hits, one walk, and one hit-by-pitch while No. 2 pitcher Miranda Stoddard surrendered another hit.
“I thought we had really good at-bats off Ruby,” Lowe said. “I thought we took a lot of borderline pitches. Made her uncomfortable. I think she walked a lot of people tonight that she’s not used to, and we hit some balls on the screws that got caught.”
Both starters did what they needed to keep the runners from scoring for most of the game.
Arizona capitalized on Meylan’s inability to find the strike zone in the first inning. Meylan issued four walks—including one with the bases loaded—and threw a wild pitch in the bottom of the first.
The only hit in the inning was a single by Regan Shockey, but Arizona didn’t need hits. A sacrifice fly and the bases-loaded walk pushed both runs across.
The lack of hits in big situations was a sign of trouble to come. Arizona had the bases loaded with one out and only managed to get one run out of it when Stoddard drew the base on balls.
Jenna Sniffen struck out on three pitches. Tayler Biehl battled, forcing Meylan to throw seven pitches, but the end result was the same. The second strikeout of the inning put an end to the threat.
Meylan settled down after that. She gave up two walks and three singles over the next five innings. Arizona had two baserunners in the bottom of the fourth, but that was the biggest threat the Wildcats presented.
The Cowgirls weren’t doing much better. Netz gave up a leadoff single to start the game then sat down the next eight batters. She surrendered three hits through the first four innings.
OSU tried to put something together in the top of the fifth. Three singles loaded the bases with one out. A spectacular double play started by Biehl ended the threat. Arizona’s shortstop snagged a liner and flipped it to second base to get the baserunner.
TAYLER BIEHL!!! WHAT A PLAY!!! pic.twitter.com/nKrbxQ54ZM
— Arizona Softball (@ArizonaSoftball) April 5, 2025
The Cowgirls had begun making contact with Netz but the coaches opted to stick with her in the sixth. She gave up two singles in the sixth but once again got out of it without giving up a run.
That finally came to an end in the top of the seventh. Netz is known for going after batters. That means she doesn’t give up a lot of walks but it also makes her vulnerable to hits, including home runs.
The home runs don’t do a lot of damage as long as they’re of the solo variety. It’s when Netz starts putting baserunners on then makes a mistake that it really bites her.
In the seventh, Netz allowed a leadoff home run that cut Arizona’s lead in half. Lowe stuck with her and it appeared to pay off. The redshirt senior got the next batter out.
She couldn’t keep it going. Netz hit one batter and walked the next. There were two on with one out. It was finally time to pull the plug for the day.
“I think the hit-by-pitch, she wants that pitch back,” Lowe said. “I think some things led up to it and at the same time, we just have to execute in those moments. I think the sixth and seventh, we could have put ourselves in a better position to just shut a team down at the very end. So we want to see that, and at the same time, we want to put some security runs on the board and really come through in some of those moments.”
Stoddard moved from first base into the circle. Lowe felt the right-hander’s tendency to stay down in the zone was what they needed.
“I think she’s a great option to come in and roll a double play in that scenario, especially,” Lowe said. “And I think she wants one pitch back because she threw really dirty pitches before that and in that last at-bat.”
She didn’t get that double play ball the team wanted. Stoddard got to a 2-2 count against Karli Godwin before Godwin found a pitch she liked. She drove it out of the park to put three more runs on the board. A 2-0 Arizona lead had been flipped on its head with a four-run inning by Oklahoma State.
Stoddard ended the damage there with a flyout and a groundout, but the Wildcats were down to their final three outs and hadn’t done much offensively in five innings.
Kaiah Altmeyer gave Arizona some hope with a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh, but Netz followed with a strikeout that had the Wildcats up against the wall.
Arizona catcher Sydney Stewart drew the eighth walk of the game against her former battery mate from Washington. That brought Stoddard up representing the winning run.
Stoddard grounded out on the first pitch of her at-bat.
Meylan threw a complete game and struck out eight Wildcats to match her eight walks. She hit one batter. She threw 141 pitches and gave up two earned runs.
Netz threw 83 pitches in 6.1 innings. She gave up three earned runs on nine hits, a walk, and a hit batter.
Stoddard was charged with one earned run on one hit in her 0.2 innings of work. Both Arizona pitchers gave up a home run.
“These are the games that are going to prepare us, and it’s a character test tomorrow,” Lowe said. “But I was proud of the way they came out tonight…Obviously, we wanted to execute in a few more moments. And I think people want a few at-bats back. I think we want a few pitches back. And that’s how you play the game. Two good pitchers going at it, two good offenses going at it. They came out on top today, but we’re gonna get after them tomorrow.”
Arizona can take some comfort in the fact that they fell to Meylan by the score of 13-2 in six innings the first time they faced when she was with Washington last season. They came back to beat her the next two times she pitched against them.
They will have the chance to even the series at 6 p.m. MST on Saturday.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics