The No. 14 Arizona Wildcats are adjusting for the start of Big 12 play next week. First, they need to win against four teams and five games this weekend. They started it all with a run-rule win over Eastern Illinois on Thursday. They hit six more home runs on Friday, en route to consecutive wins over Long Beach State and Minnesota.
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Arizona Wildcats beat LBSU Beach 8-0 in five innings
Freshman right-hander Riley Holder Second start in a row. Her Thursday night game was a no-hitter going into the fifth inning. She ended up giving up two hits in that inning, but they were just two of three base runners all night.
There won’t be any flirting with the no-hitter in Friday’s early game. The Beaches have six batters hitting over .300. The first one is Lena Apodacawho led off the game with a single. Avery Weisbrock A walk ensued and then things got contentious.
Priscilla Inigos Played against Holder and then hit a fielder’s choice. Serenity Tris Receive the ball cleanly and pass it to Tyler Beale The second one looked to have plenty of time to get out. Weisbrock is considered safe. While replays were conducted Thursday night, including the final play of the game, the technology was not used on Friday.
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“It was a one-player game. [against Eastern Illinois],” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe explain. “We have to pay for a full replay of the game.”
Although Lowe did not mention the cost, outside sources indicate that a rematch costs about $3,000. To keep costs down, Arizona only uses it for single games, such as against EIU, or high-stakes series, such as against Oklahoma State. It will be used for all conference games once Big 12 play begins.
The call and lack of replay meant the bases were loaded with no outs.
Don’t worry. Reagan Shockey Patrolling midfield.
clean up batter Nina Sepulveda A short fly into midfield and was knocked down by Shockey. Three years after meeting her, the team is still testing Shockey’s arm. Like many times before, it was unsuccessful.
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“I’m surprised people are still chasing her, but they do,” Lowe said.
Shockey hit a home run, leaving Apodaca to try to convert the fly ball into a sac fly. It changed the entire situation of the inning and even the entire game.
“The priority is always team first,” Shockey said. “Our pitching staff has put us in a good position and our coaches have put us in a good position to catch those balls. So, honestly, it’s just a routine that our whole team does. So it’s just doing the routine and being where I’m supposed to be.”
The next pitch resulted in a harmless grounder to first base. Arizona State escaped this one without giving up a point.
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This fueled the offense. Arizona State sent all nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. As usual, Shockey and Tris got to work. Sidney Stewart Hit one of her patented doubles into the right-center wall to push the first two rounds through.
that brought Grace Jenkinsher five homers tied her with Stewart for the lead in hits. This one doesn’t look like it’s going out. She hit a sky-high shot to left center. It looks like it will either fall off the wall or get stuck in the front. Instead, it just happened. A two-run home run made it 4-0.
Jenkins shrugged and ran around the bases. Lip reading revealed she was saying: “What was that?”
that brought Jalyn Banda Reducing the burden on LBSU starters Lindsay Cowens. It didn’t solve the problem.
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Emma Kavanagh Start the next game with a single to develop the freshman first baseman Keith Lucas. Lucas entered his 16th game of the season but had only four hits in the previous 15 games. That’s happened in five of her 16 games.
This is again a long ball, but doesn’t necessarily look long enough after hitting it. Arizona’s batter sneaked out again, hitting a two-run homer. The first round of offensive damage was over, but the explosion calmed the entire team.
Holder sat on three ground balls to her center infielder in order in the top of the second inning. Arizona State was back on offense, ready to extend its lead.
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The Cats did it with the help of another home run. Shockey reached base for the second straight inning. Bill walked into the box and one of them was out. Her home run was unquestionable to right center. The Wildcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead and held on for the run-rule win through five innings.
Holder allowed three hits and three walks in 4.0 innings of work. She breathed a sigh of relief Jena Berrywho gave up 1.0 IP hits and walks. No Arizona pitchers struck out. Holder improves to 5-0 on the season.
Cowens took the loss for LBSU. She gave up four ERA on four hits in 0.1 IP. Banda pitched 3.2 innings and allowed four earned runs on five hits. She struck out.
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Arizona Wildcats beat Minnesota Golden Gophers 11-2 in five innings
The Wildcats defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 11-2 in five innings.
Arizona used Stewart, Kavanagh and Jenna Sniffen Breaking the mold, but the walks and singles ensured that most of them weren’t solo shots.
That’s especially important for Sniffen, who hit a home run in Arizona’s first game of the season but has struggled since. She hit some hard balls, but they were all at people.
Sniffen’s average dropped from .400 after the second game of the season to .167 before Friday’s game. She went 0-for-2 in the early going against LBSU, then improved to 2-for-1 with a walk and a home run against the Gophers.
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“I feel like it’s really easy to solve problems when you have a team like that, a team that comes to work every day, a coaching staff that helps you get better every day,” Sniffen said. “Like Reagan said, putting the team first is our priority and all I need to do every day is do better for them and that’s what motivates me.”
Lowe went on to praise Sniffen as a key defensive player in their win, even though she didn’t get a hit.
“She’s been controlling everything she can control defensively,” Lowe said. “She’s a lock-in third baseman. I mean, she’s one of the best third basemen in the country, and she just throws herself into things that she can control and knows the hits are coming.”
Kavanagh went 2-for-2 early in the game. Late in the game, she went 1-for-1 with 2 walks and a home run. Her biggest celebration wasn’t the home run, though. In the bottom of the first inning, she homered and then earned a run. She turned toward the Arizona dugout, screamed, and threw her bat in excitement.
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“That’s her energy every day,” Lowe said. “She’s really feeling the moment of the game and feeling the excitement of getting on base like a home run. So that’s really cool. She’s a guy that can light a fire. Luckily, we had a lot of guys that did that today. We talked a lot about how it takes a guy to light up the offense and how to capture that, so we did that today and was really happy about that.”
Stewart went 3-for-5 with six RBIs and two extra-base hits in two games. As usual, she often left Shockey and Tris to pick up the dots.
“I think the one-two punch of Regan and Sereniti is just going to start a fire,” Stewart said.
Shockey scored 3 points on 2-for-6 shooting in two games. Telles went 4-for-6 on the day, scored 3 runs and had an RBI.
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advanced Jaren Adams The game got off to a good start late in the game. She initially worked 3.0 innings, giving way to the sophomore Sarah Wright Arizona led 10-0 in the first half of the fourth quarter. Wright had some issues and couldn’t get out, so Adams returned to the game and ended up pitching 5.0 innings.
Adams allowed an inherited runner to score, but that run was led by Wright. The senior gave up three hits and a walk but did not give up a run. She struck out.
Wright faced four batters. All four reached safety with two hits and two walks. She was charged with two self-imposed assaults. One only found out after she left the game.
Adams started the game with 1-2-3 innings, including two strikeouts in the first. Her attack started just as fiercely.
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The Wildcats scored four runs on three hits and committed an error in the bottom half of the first. Stewart and Kiki Escobar Each person is responsible for two R&D tasks.
Arizona State scored a run per inning. After scoring four runs in the first inning, the Wildcats scored two runs in the second and four in the third. After giving up two runs in the top of the fourth inning, they responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning. Adams returned to the circle and delivered another zero to end the game.
Arizona will return to the court to take on Howard on Saturday at 4:30 pm MST. The Wildcats will face off against LBSU again on Sunday. This game starts at 11:30 a.m.
All Arizona State games will be streamed live on ESPN+. Statistics can be found at Arizona Live Stats.