Arizona Softball stays perfect in Pac-12 Conference play

TUCSON, AZ- Arizona Softball (38-7, 15-0) stays perfect in Pac-12 Conference play, as the Wildcats sweep the Stanford Cardinal at home.

Another weekend of softball action, another sweep for the Arizona Softball team as the Wildcats dominate the Stanford Cardinal at home.

Coming off a three-game sweep of GCU, Arizona returned to action on Thursday, ready to take on a formidable opponent in Stanford.

Arizona Wildcats

Taylor McQuillin took to the on the mound in game one, and from the start, it was a good one! The senior pitcher would deliver a gem for the Cats, pitching seven marvelous innings, surrendering just three hits and holding the Cardinal scoreless in this one.

With the good pitching, Arizona luckily didn’t need much offense in this one, and although their scoring wasn’t often, it was impactful. Tied 0-0, Arizona broke the scoreless tie in the third, when Reyna Carranco blasted a three-run shot to give the Cats the lead!

One inning later, it was Hillary Edior who joined the home run party, sending a solo shot to left-center to extend Arizona’s lead to 4-0.

However, the offense didn’t stop there for the Cats, as Dejah Mulipola would be the last one to join the home run-hitting party, hitting a three-run blast to left-center as well, to give the Cats a 7-0 lead and eventual victory!

Looking to stay hot in game two, Alyssa Denham would get the call to start in this one. Not quite like game one, the Wildcats would get things started quickly and often.

First, it was Mulipola to homer on a solo shot in the second inning, followed by another ‘Dejah Dinger’ that made it 4-0 after the third inning.

Stanford would get one back in the fifth inning, but unfortunately for the Cardinal, that’s all that would come to fruition for them, as the Wildcats’ pitching would slam the door on Stanford in this one.

Denham would be pulled in the fifth inning, and would be replaced by reliever Hanah Bowen as she would finish out the last inning, picking up her third save of the season. Denham would finish the game with four innings pitched, meanwhile surrendering just one run on three-hits, improving to 11-2 on the season!

Arizona would explode for five more runs in the fifth inning, successfully ending this one early in a run-rule effort to pick up the 9-1 win versus the Cardinal.

Going for the sweep, the Cats returned to action on Saturday, hoping to remain perfect in Pac-12 play. Turning again to McQuillin, Arizona would explode offensively in this one!

The game would start slow, but still tied 0-0, Arizona would get things going in the second inning, when Hannah Martinez would single to second base, scoring Edior, making it 1-0.

However, a 12-run, yeah you heard me right, a 12-run third inning blew this game wide open, virtually ending this one as McQuillin would end up just pitching four innings and picking up the win. The senior would surrender one run on two hits, meanwhile improving to 17-5 on the year.

Redshirt senior Gina Snyder would come on in relief, holding Stanford to just one run on three hits, in the one inning she pitched.

Who stole the show, was Malia Martinez though, as the junior infielder finished the day 2-3 from the plate, with two runs scored, and six RBI’s driven in, including a grand slam!

All together, the Cats paced themselves to the 13-2 trouncing of Stanford in just five innings played.

https://twitter.com/ArizonaSoftball/status/1119752072646103040

With the wins, Arizona improves to 38-7 (15-0) on the year, remaining perfect in conference play. The Wildcats will return to action later this week, when they travel to Berkeley, to take on California (24-22, 3-14) in a three-game conference stand that will begin on Friday!

At Zona Zealots, we’re proud of the way our Cats competed and are excited to see them try to extend their winning streak to 21 games and hopefully beyond! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!