The fall has been full of new faces and new challenges for Arizona softball. The program had major transfer turnover, both into and out of the program, after last season. For the first time, the Wildcats faced Division I competition during fall with a trip to GCU. It might have been more important than ever with all the new players.
“We’ve been trying for a while,” said Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe. “It’s too bad we don’t have too many like travel partners…close but that was fantastic for us to get
10 innings against a very good tournament team. I mean, you know they win. You know they do. And their pitching staff gave us a great test, and it was nice to see kind of just everybody perform under pressure. I mean, it was an away game, it was bussing and playing the same day, was all of the things. So just wanted to see how they would respond. And I don’t think we played our best softball at GCU, and I think that’s what we need to know in the fall, and we don’t always get in the fall.”
Senior Tayler Biehl is the last one of her recruiting class to still play for Arizona, so she knew the difference between playing all of the games in Hillenbrand Stadium against NJCAA programs and going on the road to face another team that’s used to playing in the NCAA Tournament.
“It was cool to play GCU,” Biehl said. “We never played them in the fall, so that was a cool test for us, for sure. And that was just exciting to go up there and play and kind of get a little bit of travel vibes, which is going to be a lot of the season.”
For freshman pitcher Rylie Holder, who is likely to get a lot of innings this season, it was an opportunity to get thrown into the fire of Division I softball.
“It was awesome just to have these group of girls behind me,” Holder said. “I know no matter what, they’re gonna have my back.”
Senior transfer Grace Jenkins was getting used to being back out West and back in the outfield. Last year’s Big East Player of the Year at UConn played catcher her first three years of college. While the California native got a few innings behind the plate during fall, she mostly played right field for the Wildcats.
“Growing up and in high school, I played outfield,” Jenkins said.
She feels prepared to move back there because of the experience of her coaches and teammates.
“It’s so much fun,” Jenkins said. “I feel like a gazelle out there. And under Coach Cait, like she’s the real deal. I mean, she’s an Olympian out there, All-American out there, so to learn from her. And then also Regan Shockey. She’s incredible. The way that this team has embraced me and the coaching staff has embraced me has been wonderful.“
Fellow transfer Sereniti Trice is also closer to home after coming to Arizona from Iowa State. She has moved effortlessly into the role of Arizona’s starting second baseman. She’s also back with longtime teammate Sina Talataina, who has taken over first base as a freshman. Arizona’s new two-hole hitter didn’t tell her fellow infielder that she was going to join her in Tucson until it was time to announce the commitment.
“I wanted to surprise her, because we’ve been playing together since we were eight years old,” Trice said. “So kind of like a full circle moment, from rec ball all the way up to college.”
The two couldn’t be more different on the field. Trice is a slapping middle infielder who gives Arizona a one-two punch with Shockey at the top of the order. Talataina is a power hitter who has easily settled into the position as Arizona’s primary first baseman.
The freshman was one of four Wildcats to hit the ball out of the park against Pima College on Friday evening. Jenkins and Sydney Stewart went back-to-back in the first inning. Sophomore Anyssa Wild had a pinch-hit home run to lead off the fifth. Talataina’s round-tripper came in between.
She came up with two on base in the bottom of the second. She got into a full count, then sent the sixth pitch of the at-bat out to left field.
The game was played in a modified format that stopped the inning once Arizona put five runs on the board, although in the case of a home run, all of the runs were counted. Talataina’s long ball gave the Wildcats seven runs in the inning without Pima recording an out.
“She’s steady in how she approaches life every single day,” Lowe said. “So it’s really cool to see as a freshman, someone come in and have a whole lot of composure and not take herself too seriously. Which is fun, because she’s got a great personality and she comes out, she makes the infield light. And, I mean, talk about stepping into a really experienced infield and just holding your own and kind of bringing her own special touch to it.”
All four of Arizona’s pitchers got work in. Sophomore Sarah Wright started the game against the Aztecs and was followed by Jenae Berry. Holder relieved Berry, then gave way to senior Jalen Adams to finish the game.
While Pima was overmatched, they battled against all four of the Wildcats’ pitchers. The Aztecs got two on base in the first with a two-out walk followed by a single. Wright bounced back with her second strikeout of the inning to keep runs off the board.
Stewart and Jenkins had four RBI in the bottom of the inning to give Arizona a 4-0 lead.
Wright seemed to settle in. She sat down the Aztecs in order with two more strikeouts and a 5-3 groundout. Her offense followed that with a seven-run explosion.
That brought Berry into the circle. She gave up a leadoff single, but a fielder’s choice, a caught stealing, and a strikeout kept Pima off the board.
Arizona had its final big inning in the bottom of the third. Both Shockey and Trice drove runs in with groundouts to the right side of the infield. Stewart got her fifth RBI of the game with a single.
That’s when Pima finally found its offense. The Aztecs scored two runs on three hits off Berry in the top of the fourth.
Holder relieved Berry in the fifth. She restored some order by striking out the side. The freshman ended with five strikeouts in two innings of work.
“She wants the ball,” Lowe said. “I think the presence is very apparent when she steps on the mound and she just goes right at people, which is nice to see. And just, she trusts her stuff, and she goes out and she throws it.”
Adams ran into some issues in the seventh. She got a groundout from the leadoff batter, but then hit the next batter.
The next hitter laid down a bunt. Adams fielded it but was just late with the throw to Kiki Escobar at first. The following hitter also put down a bunt. This time, Adams opted to let Jenna Sniffen field the ball. Sniffen didn’t get it quite as quickly as she needed to, and there was no out recorded.
Arizona caught a break when the runner at third got caught in a rundown. It kept the run off the board and gave the Wildcats two outs.
PCC bounced back with a bloop single to left. Two more runs scored, cutting Arizona’s lead to 15-4. Adams finally shut it down with a strikeout.
The coaches and players learned what they needed to during the fall season. A lot of newcomers saw time on the field. Some defensive positions were solidified, but the versatility of several players was also on display. Things will be fine tuned in the coming weeks.
“There’s a lot of options, which is great,” Lowe said. “I think when you look at our lineup, there’s a lot of athleticism. So I’ve been really happy with their willingness and just the buy-in to move around the field and make things happen offensively. I think we have a lot of pieces too. So there are times we can go fast, and there are times we can add some more power. And the great thing is, we’re getting everybody defensively ready to do whatever needs to be done whenever.”
Lowe and her staff will sort out who ends up where as Arizona prepares for the beginning of the season.
“This team lives their best when they’re hungry and trying to get better, and they know what’s wrong and they want to go fix it,” Lowe said. “So just excited for them to get to work, and mostly excited about Monday, because I know they’re going to have a bunch of things they want to work on. I know we do too. So just want to see a constant growth until February.”
