Arizona softball head coach Caitlin Lowe thinks the future is bright for the Wildcats in the new college sports landscape. Her 2025 class of four is just part of that.
“We’re being very well supported from the athletic department all the way to the top,” Lowe said. “And I think that’s very cool to see the investment in female sports and the investment in softball specifically.”
Lowe said that softball would see both expanded scholarships to go with the 25-player roster limit and revenue sharing. She noted that the program rarely carries as many as 25 players, so the roster limits would have little effect at Arizona. The improved financial situation should help, though.
“For the type of athlete we recruit and the ones we’re going after, I think it’s going to be very competitive,” Lowe said.
She did admit that the happenings in college athletics and softball, in particular, have had their impact in recent years, though.
“I mean, it’s impacted us a lot, but I think it’s something that we definitely still have been able to recruit in our system for,” Lowe said. “But yes, it’s always impactful. When you hear some of the numbers that are being thrown out, I think those are kind of the one-offs instead of the regular happenings at most of these schools, but we are still extremely competitive in the landscape that is college athletics right now.”
As for the class she signed in the new world of college athletics, three of the four are right-handed power hitters and the fourth is a right-handed pitcher.
“It was a big infield class for us and a big power class for us as we’re getting ready to graduate some of our pop, not necessarily the year that they come in, but the year after that,” Lowe said. “So it’s really important for us to get a year under their belt, training with some of our hitters. Not have all the pressure right away, but really be able to compete early. And I think we did that with this class. I think I’m most proud of just the competitors and the people that they are stepping in. And I think they really embody what it means to wear the A already, and that will only get better when they come here. But definitely wanted to have some power, whereas in some classes, we blend speed and some classes more pitching than others, but it was a big deal for us to kind of have some good pop.”
According to Softball America, the top player in the class is Sinalei Talataina out of San Diego. Talataina is rated a four-star recruit by the publication and comes in as the No. 29 player in the country. The infielder is the fourth-ranked player in California and the tenth-best infielder. When she committed in Oct. 2023, she was ranked 16th by Extra Inning Softball, which has since revamped its ranking system. PG Softball has her ranked as the 35th-best player in the class.
“(She) has a whole lot of pop in her bat,” Lowe said. “Had a great weekend this weekend. I just talked to her. And excited for her to play in field for us. And she’s more of a corner, power hitter, and all of them, I just will say, hitting wise, just very mature at the plate, very composed, whole lot of pop and great teammates.”
Talataina plays her prep ball for Cathedral Catholic High School and her travel ball for Athletics Mercado. She has helped Athletics Mercado reach the 14U Alliance National Championship game and the 18U PGF National Championship game during her time with the program.
In her three years at CCHS, she has hit .428 in 94 games. She has 115 hits with 29 doubles, 4 triples, and 9 home runs while driving in 97 runs and scoring 64. Her on-base plus slugging stands at 1.182 with 49 walks against 24 strikeouts.
Last year, Talataina hit a career-high .461 and had a 1.413 OPS. She collected 35 hits in 28 games with 10 doubles, 3 triples, and 4 home runs. She knocked in 30 runs and scored 19. She walked 20 times and struck out four times.
For the second straight year, Arizona signed a player out of Hawai’i. Kezia Lucas will come to Tucson from Kamehameha Kapalama High School in Honolulu and the LK Black Hawai’i travel team. The two-sport athlete from Pauoa, HI also plays basketball for her high school. She joins freshman third baseman Jenna Sniffen as Wildcats from the 50th state.
“It’s been phenomenal, honestly,” Lowe said. “Kez comes from a team called LK Black, and they produce a whole lot of great athletes, and they’re sprinkled everywhere throughout college softball…It’s been cool, those girls that do stay together on that team because they can hit and they can hit well…And they have a lot of pride playing for that team, which is exciting, too.”
Lucas currently plays both third base and catcher, but Lowe said she’ll play “a little bit of everything” at Arizona. As a junior, she hit .488 and had a 1.759 OPS last year. She gathered 21 hits with almost half of them going out of the park. She ended with two doubles and nine home runs. She had 24 RBI and scored 14 runs in 14 games. She was walked 13 times in 57 plate appearances and didn’t strike out at all in 43 at-bats.
“You’ll see her in the infield if you’re at practice,” Lowe said. “She’s going to take all the infield position reps. Great catcher behind the plate. A whole lot of pop in her bat, so that’s exciting for us. And it’s up to us to see kind of how that fits within our lineup next year.”
Arizona’s third fielder in the class is outfielder Molli Daley from Salpointe Catholic in Tucson. Daley has been part of the Lancers’ last three state titles, winning each year of her high school career. She made the Southern Arizona Softball 4A first team last year.
Daley has a career batting average of .318 and an OPS of .897. She has 35 hits with five doubles, two triples, and three home runs in her career. She has driven in 19 runs and scored 72. She has 18 walks, 23 strikeouts, and 22 stolen bases in 73 games.
“She’s very fast,” Lowe said. “She’s got a strong right arm in the outfield.”
The class wraps up with right-handed pitcher Rylie Holder out of the Houston, Tex. area. She plays for East Bernard High School and the Impact Gold travel team. She has helped Impact Gold to a runner-up finish at the 16U Alliance National Championship and third place at the 18U Alliance National Championship.
Holder was ranked No. 4 in the Extra Inning Softball 2025 regional rankings covering the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Holder went 8-4 and had one save in 16 appearances for her high school last year. She ended with a 1.52 ERA in 69 innings of work and held opponents to a .184 batting average. She struck out 63 and walked 16. Only one of the 281 batters she faced hit a home run. It was the only extra-base hit she gave up all season.
The four players weren’t the only people Lowe signed. She also hired Amber Freeman as the new hitting coach in August. Freeman replaced Josh Bloomer after his one season with the program. Lowe was excited about the new edition.
“She’s been fantastic and a well-needed addition to our team, I think,” Lowe said. “And when she came in, I was very impressed with her composure, her knowledge base. She is the exact temperament I want our hitters to have, and I think that’s very important. When you recruit one type of way and a coach doesn’t match that type of temperament, then it can be a complete disaster instead of enhancing what you already have.”
It didn’t even matter that Freeman is a former ASU star.
“She’s in the better Arizona school,” Lowe said. “We joke about it all the time. And her parents are rocking the right colors now, and all is well.”
Lead photo by Mike Christy/Arizona Athletics