Arizona softball outlasts Drake in double-header
· Yahoo Sports
The Arizona Wildcats moved up to No. 15 in three of four polls this week, but they almost dropped the ball immediately against Drake on Thursday afternoon. The ‘Cats fought back to take game one 7-6 before winning 7-1 in the late game.
Arizona’s transfers once again combined with a few of the holdovers to lead the team to victory. Pitcher Jalen Adams, right fielder Grace Jenkins, and second baseman Sereniti Trice came up big. Returners Sydney Stewart, Regan Shockey, Emma Kavanagh, and Anyssa Wild also made impacts.
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The difference in the early game came down to the top of the order and pinch hitting.
Arizona went into the sixth trailing 6-2. Stewart cut into the lead with a lead-off home run. It was the first of the year for the Wildcat catcher. Tayler Biehl kept things rolling with a single and stolen base out of the five hole.
There were decisions to be made at this point.
The starters at the six, seven, and eight positions came into the game hitting .000, .000, and .167, respectively. At crunch time, head coach Caitlin Lowe pulled the trigger with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. She brought in two of her power hitters off the bench. It worked beautifully.
First, it was Kavanagh pinch-hitting in the seven spot. The sophomore catcher/utility player hasn’t gotten many at-bats so far this year, but she has been successful when her number was called. She came in hitting .333 with two hits and two walks in eight plate appearances.
She got all of one, driving a two-run homer to left field. The Drake lead was just one run now.
Next up was sophomore Wild. She battled and eventually got a hold of one. It was a long double, giving Arizona another runner in scoring position with two outs.
The Wildcats couldn’t get the run in, but there was life in the home dugout.
After Adams worked around an error to put up another zero in the top of the seventh, Arizona had one more chance.
Once more, it was about the top of the order.
Shockey led off with another single to go 4 for 4 in the game. Trice moved her into scoring position with a groundout, bringing up Stewart with a chance to tie or walk it off.
Stewart came through with her second home run in two innings. Game over.
It was an exciting ending to a game that showed several cracks in the pitching, hitting, and defense of the Wildcats.
Jenae Berry got the start in the circle. She gave up a leadoff home run to give Drake the lead out of the gate.
The ‘Cats tied it up in the bottom of the inning when Shockey reached and scored on what was scored a sacrifice bunt by Trice and a throwing error by the Bulldogs’ third baseman Frankie Rita. It could easily have been scored a single and a throwing error, but the end result was the same. Shockey motored around from first base to score.
Berry went back out with the score tied, but she couldn’t keep it there. A second home run gave the Bulldogs a lead once again. This time it was a two-run job from Natalee Watts. Drake led 3-1.
Berry surrendered two more hits in the second, but she kept any more runs from scoring.
Her offense didn’t help much. Drake’s freshman pitcher Brooklyn Cardenas sat the side down in order in the bottom of the inning—and kept the Wildcats off balance for much of the game.
Berry settled in for a spell. She sat down the side in the third, and her offense responded with a run in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to one. She had another 1-2-3 inning in the fourth.
Things went off the rails in the fifth, partially because Arizona’s defense didn’t back up their pitcher. A leadoff walk was followed by a single and an error on the same play. Another run scored.
That ended Berry’s day. In came Adams to try to put out the fire with two on and no outs.
It took Adams a bit to get control. A sac fly drove in a run for Drake. Next, an infield bunt was not thrown home, and another run came in with no outs recorded. A double down the right field line scored one more, but a nice relay from Jenkins to Biehl to Jenna Sniffen at third got the second out.
Adams finally got out of the inning with a foul-out, but Arizona followed up the big inning by Drake with no runs in the bottom of the frame. It was a 6-2 lead for the Bulldogs after five.
That’s when Arizona changed its fate on the way to the walk-off win.
The comeback held over into the second game.
Adams got the start in the late game, making her sixth appearance in seven Arizona games this season. She shut out Drake in four innings, giving up three hits and no walks. She threw 27 strikes out of 40 pitches.
Adams ended her day with two wins. She gave up one unearned run on six hits in 7.0 innings pitched. She struck out two and didn’t allow a walk. She threw 84 pitches with 59 strikes.
The Wildcats were much more effective offensively in the later game, and they didn’t wait for the seventh inning.
Shockey led off with yet another hit. It was her fifth in five at-bats over the two games. The Bulldogs did not retire Shockey until the bottom of the third in the second game.
Trice came up and hit her second triple of the season to give UA its first run of the game. Stewart hit the sac fly to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
The top of the order came through again in the third. Although Drake finally retired Shockey, the Bulldogs couldn’t do much about Trice, Stewart, and Jenkins.
Trice got the one-out single and stole second base. Stewart hit a long single to right field. It held up long enough that Trice couldn’t score, but she was 60 feet away.
It was more than enough. Jenkins knocked a three-run homer out to center field on the first pitch of her at-bat. The Wildcats were up 5-0 after three.
Adams shut down the Bulldogs once again in the fourth. Freshman Sina Talataina broke through earlier in the game with the first hit of her collegiate career. She got her second in the fourth. Two straight groundouts brought pinch runner Molli Daley in to score.
Shockey’s speed came into play even though she didn’t get a hit. This time she forced the throwing error to reach first with two outs. Trice got a double to bring her in. Trice ended the game with a single, a double, and a triple.
Sarah Wright entered the circle for Adams in the top of the fifth with Arizona up 7-0. She allowed the only run of the game, but it was unearned on a throwing error by third baseman Kiki Escobar.
It wasn’t Arizona’s only error of the day. The Wildcats had several defensive miscues in the first game, although they didn’t all go into the books as official errors. The usually sure-handed Biehl had an error in each game. The team had two errors in each contest.
Shockey led the offense with six hits in eight at-bats. She scored four runs and stole two bases.
Trice went 3 for 7 with two RBI. She scored three runs, stole a base, and laid down one sacrifice.
Stewart was 4 for 7 with two home runs. She had four RBI and scored three runs. She also had a sac fly.
Jenkins was 0 for 1 with one RBI in the early game. She walked and had a sac fly. In the second game, she went 1 for 3 with one run and three RBI. She hit one home run.
Arizona will return to the field on Friday at 4 p.m. MST to face Coastal Carolina. The game was originally scheduled for 5 p.m. It will stream on ESPN+.