Freshman Rylie Holder doesn’t consider herself a strikeout pitcher at the college level. It’s all about the ground balls and double plays. Those were key in Arizona softball’s 8-0 victory over Houston on Saturday afternoon, but the five strikeouts against the Cougars didn’t hurt, either. The mark tied her career high.
“That’s pretty good,” Holder said.
She was more impressed by the work she and her defense did together.
“I was just letting my D work, just trusting my spin, trusting myself, and then
letting them hit the ball how I want them to,” Holder said. “I have all those ground balls, almost exactly what I want. It’s a good outing for me.”
Holder pitched all five innings of the mercy-rule game. Of the 15 outs she got, five came on strikeouts, six came on ground balls, and just one was in the air. She induced two double plays.
With all those ground balls, centerfielder Regan Shockey didn’t have as much to do on defense. She was very involved on offense, though.
Shockey went 3-for-3 for the second straight day.
She is very glad to be back on the hard ground of Hillenbrand Stadium. Over the past three weeks, Arizona had played nine games on soft fields in the Midwest and South. It has provided Shockey with some challenges that she thinks will pay off in the long run.
“Honestly, it just allows me to use more of my tools,” Shockey said. “I think sometimes I get caught away here just bouncing the ball, as we’ve seen, but being on the road, it just allowed me to find fight within myself, to use different things, and I think it’s helped me flourish as a person. It challenged my character a little bit, but it also made me realize that whatever for the team, right? So I lay a lot more bunts down, power slapped, and I just realized, anything I could do to help this team win, I’m gonna do it.”
She’s not the only Wildcat junior who’s finding things within herself and flourishing. Tele Jennings had another outstanding outing as the designated player.
Sydney Stewart hit two home runs in four innings on Friday evening. On Saturday, Houston opted to walk her three times. Two were intentional walks.
The three walks gave Stewart sole possession of the Big 12 lead for bases on balls with 38. She is also first in OPS at 1.601. Her 70 RBI are six more than anyone else in the league. Her 18 home runs are tied for second just one behind Houston’s Maddie Hartley, but Hartley has played in four more games than Stewart. The Cougars’ Makenna Mitchell is tied with Stewart at 18. On top of the power numbers, Stewart’s .426 average is seventh in the league.
“She’s earned that kind of respect [to be walked three times] because she’s been so consistent with how dominant she can be, and how much she can affect the game with one swing,” said Arizona assistant coach Lauren Lappin. “You saw that last night, after they walked her, and then they rolled the dice, pitched to her and she did damage. But that’s just universal respect.”
The crowd didn’t like it, but the respect that put Stewart on base provided opportunities for Jennings, Tayler Biehl, and Grace Jenkins to hit with runners on.
“Tele Jennings right behind [Stewart] has been completely composed in that spot, and she’s keeping it really simple,” Lappin said. “They-walk Stew, and she’s ready for an at-bat, and she’s produced.
Jennings came into the season as a reserve. She has worked herself into the position of everyday DP as she raised her batting average to .345. On Saturday, she went 1 for 2 with a walk and an RBI. Every time she came up to bat, Stewart was already on base. Jennings’ coaches and teammates are noticing how often she comes through.
“She’s hitting right now like she’s hungry, and I feel like that’s what we all have to embody,” Shockey said. “Fight like you have nothing else left. And that’s how I feel, every one of her at-bats, she inspires me. And if you saw her work throughout the whole fall, she wasn’t an initial starter, but the work never stopped. If anything, it got harder and she started doing more of it. So for anyone who feels like they’re sitting or whatnot, there’s always going to be an opportunity, and your hard work, it’ll pay off.”
Lappin believes a lot of the success has to do with the way Jennings was raised to view the game. The younger sister of Oklahoma great Tiare Jennings knows that things don’t come easy or get handed to anyone at the highest level of the game.
“She’s up to the challenge, but she was raised right,” Lappin said. “She’s in a really good family. I mean, we have great families all around this roster, but she’s in a family that they know how sports work, and she’s able to kind of keep her head down and grind and support her teammates along the way. So it’s been really awesome to see her come in and perform.”
Biehl had similar success on Saturday afternoon. Arizona’s senior shortstop went 1 for 3 with a run scored and two RBI. Behind her, Jenkins was 1 for 2 with a walk and three RBI.
Holder kept Houston off-balance all game. She walked the leadoff hitter, but that runner was immediately wiped away by a double play. Her first strikeout of the day ended the inning.
In the second, she struck out two of the three batters she faced.
Holder didn’t give up a hit until the top of the fourth. Two straight singles put a runner in scoring position with no outs, but a double play put her one out from another shutout inning. A grounder to Jenna Sniffen at third accomplished that task.
Holder threw five innings of three-hit ball. She walked two to offset her five strikeouts. Her ERA dropped almost .30 to 4.64. That’s the lowest it’s been since March 21, when it was at 4.55. It was the fourth straight outing that finished with a drop in her ERA.
Arizona’s eight runs came on seven hits, five walks, and five Houston errors. The Wildcats got into run-rule territory in the fourth when they scored three runs on one hit and three Cougar errors.
The Wildcats improved to 33-13 overall and 14-6 in the Big 12. They are a game ahead of Oklahoma State for second in the conference standings. However, the Cowgirls (13-7), Kansas (13-8), and UCF (12-8-1) can still overtake them for the second seed in the final days of the regular season.
