Last year, former Arizona assistant coach Josh Bloomer made a big statement about how the Wildcats would break the program record in stolen bases. There was no such statement this season. The team is also unlikely to break its record, but stolen bases are a much more important part of the offense than they have been in recent years.
It appeared from early on that the Wildcats were being more aggressive on the basepaths this season. They have teased that possibility in recent years, so it was better to wait to see if the trend held.
With 34 games in the books, it appears to be an actual trend this season. Arizona has already attempted 37 stolen bases this season. It has been successful 31 times. In 56 games last season, the Wildcats had 33 stolen bases on 44 attempts.
More importantly, the drop in stolen bases hasn’t been as steep in conference play this year as it was last season. The Wildcats have as many stolen base attempts through nine conference games this year (8) as they had through 24 last season. They were slightly more successful with six stolen bases last season compared to five so far this year.
Last year, Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe attributed Arizona’s hesitance to steal against better teams to the skill of catchers. However, the Wildcats were far more likely to avoid stealing than other Pac-12 teams, which were facing the same catchers. In fact, they had no one in the top 135 in the nation in stolen bases. Their 0.59 stolen bases per game were 7th in the Pac-12 as were their 30 total stolen bases during the regular season.
The Wildcats aren’t among the top base-stealing teams in the Big 12 or the country. They rank 8th of 11 teams. They have dramatically increased their stolen bases per game this year with 0.91 per contest, though. They have also improved their national rank to 168th in Division I after finishing 243rd last season.
Sophomore centerfielder Regan Shockey is the biggest reason for the change. Shockey had just eight stolen bases last year. She has already doubled that to 16 this season, ranking 69th in the country in the stat. She led the Big 12 in stolen bases prior to conference play kicking off and is still tied for third in the league.
Lowe said there is one reason for this. The team’s personnel makes it a more effective strategy for scoring runs—and that’s the focus of the offense.
“The biggest emphasis this year has been scoring runs, period,” Lowe said. “It’s not been on batting average, home runs, extra-base hits, OPS. It is scoring runs, and that’s going to help us win games so they are bought into the any-way-we-can-do-that personality.”
It started before practices kicked off.
“We actually sat down as an offense collectively, I know our defense did the same, and just kind of sat down, talked about our strengths, talked about what we wanted it to look like before we ever hit the cage and we ever hit the field,” Lowe said. “So we came up with just standards for what we wanted to look like, controllables for what we wanted that to look like, and then it was just buying into what makes us great offensively. And I’ve been super proud that we’ve been balanced throughout the lineup, whether that be the stolen bases or we’re just hitting gaps. Our strikeout to walk ratio is really good this year, just little things like that. And when you put the collective pieces together, it paints a way greater picture than I thought the last couple years.”
The Wildcats lost a lot of power after last season. Allie Skaggs and Carlie Scupin were known more for power than speed. While the team still has a home run power from the likes of Devyn Netz, Miranda Stoddard, and Sydney Stewart, most of the team isn’t built that way.
Even Stewart didn’t come into the season with a reputation for power. The Washington transfer has nine home runs this year. That’s third on the team behind Netz and Stoddard, who are tied for first with 10 each. Stewart had just seven in her two seasons with the Huskies. She had that many stolen bases last season.
The bulk of the stolen bases are coming from the same players who were stealing bases last season. Shockey, Dakota Kennedy, Kaiah Altmeyer, and Tayler Biehl all had at least five attempts through 56 games in 2024. The quartet all have at least five attempts through 34 games in 2025.
Shockey is responsible for most of the increase, though. She was a perfect 8 for 8 last year. This year, she’s not perfect but she’s more aggressive with her 16 steals coming on 18 attempts.
Lowe attributes the team’s overall success to practice.
“Buying into working on their jumps in practice, I think is really big deal,” she said. “The more you do it, the better you get at it. So I think that’s been important. We have a lot of speed at the top of the lineup…Those three at the top can really do damage on the bases offensively, and then down at the bottom. So the structure, I think, matters a little bit. We’re not coming up with just chances to kind of drive the ball out of the park. I think we play a different offense this year, where we’re hitting gaps. We’re making things happen. We’re putting people in motion, and that’s…the kind of offense that we want to have.”
For Shockey, the personal improvement is not only about her growing relationship with third base coach Lauren Lappin. It’s also about work off the field.
“I think just both more trust between me and Lap, as well as training with our weight trainer,” Shockey said. “I’ve been trying to be a little more explosive and just have better jumps. And then I think Lap just sends me a lot more just because we gained a lot more trust.”
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics