Arizona Wildcats news: WBB beats UW in 3OT, Baseball starts hot, Softball to No. 23

Softball debuts at No. 23 after starting 10-1

Softball has gotten off to a red-hot start to the season after Hillenbrand Stadium was the host to both the Candrea Classic and the Bear Down Fiesta. In 11 games so far, Arizona has scored a whopping 78 runs and run-ruled a win in nine of those games.

In the season-opening Candrea Classic, Arizona played Utah Tech, Lipscomb, North Texas twice, and Northern Colorado last. Starting the season off, Emily Schepp hit an RBI single in the fifth inning to walk it off with a 9-1 win over Utah Tech. In a doubleheader the next day, Arizona rolled through both Lipscomb and North Texas with a pair of 8-0 wins. The Lipscomb game saw a perfect game between pitchers Brooke Mannon and Ali Blanchard, while Olivia DiNardo's grand slam opened up the scoring against North Texas. The 'Cats weren't any kinder to the Mean Green the next day and served up an identical 8-0 shutout before run-ruling Northern Colorado later that day powered by a trio of home runs.

The Bear Down Fiesta proved to have both more fireworks and a tougher test for Arizona. It started with a doubleheader against Long Beach State, where the Wildcats run-ruled both games after five innings and outscored the Beach 19-3. Standout utility player Allie Skaggs recorded her first two home runs of the season in these games. Arizona treated Omaha even worse, outscoring them 21-2 over two games and just 10 innings.

The sole team to be even remotely competitive with Arizona was No. 15 Arkansas, who the 'Cats faced twice. The first game fell in Arizona's favor but wasn't decided until the last inning, when Arkansas' catcher dropped the third strike thrown on Carlie Scupin and Regan Shockey made it home to walk it off in a 3-2 win. The second game saw Arizona on the losing end of a 3-2 decision after Arkansas scored twice early. As a result, Arizona debuted at No. 17 on the Softball America Top 25 and at No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Softball rankings.