The Arizona Wildcats had a few surprises in the starting lineup for the first game of the rivalry series against Arizona State. They didn’t pay off.
Arizona fell to its in-state rival by the score of 16-5. The game ended after five innings.
The loss was the third straight run-rule loss by Arizona after losing a doubleheader at Texas Tech, both by the run rule. That streak follows a nine-game stretch of run-rule wins that concluded with a 9-0 victory in five innings over NiJaree Canady and the Red Raiders.
Freshman righthander Rylie Holder got the Friday night start. With Anyssa Wild out for the foreseeable future with a broken bone, junior Tele Jennings started at designated player, although Emma Kavanagh was substituted into the lineup later in the game. Freshman infielder Kez Lucas was back at first base after getting just one plate appearance in last week’s series at Texas Tech.
“Anyssa broke her hand, so that mixed up the DP situation a little bit,” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said. “We thought Tele was going to be a good matchup. Kez, we wanted to get back in there. We’re having people compete against their best matchup at first base right now. Honestly, I thought Kez did a really good job today, so excited to see that. Yeah, just playing with different stuff.”
Lowe even took over the first base coaching duties that are usually handled by pitching coach Christian Conrad.
Arizona pitching gave up crooked numbers in every inning, including six home runs. Lowe used Holder, Jenae Berry, and Sarah Wright over that time but none were effective. The group of three allowed 15 hits, 2 walks, and 3 hit batters. Jalen Adams, who had the best ERA on the team heading into the game, did not appear.
Lowe said that watching film on ASU made them believe that Holder was the best answer for Friday in a three-game series. She mentioned that Holder didn’t execute, but “she’s gonna be better tomorrow.”
“We really like Rylie against this team,” Lowe said. “I still really like Riley—if she throws her stuff—against this team.”
Things got off to a bad start immediately when Kaylee Pond hit the first pitch out to straight away centerfield. She went 2 for 2 and walked twice in the game. In fact, six ASU hitters had at least two hits and former Wildcat Emily Schepp went 4 for 4 with two home runs.
On the other side, Arizona didn’t get a hit until the third inning. The Wildcats ended with four hits and three walks but struck out 10 times.
The strikeouts hurt most when they came after the walks. ASU pitcher Kenzie Brown came in averaging 2.6 walks per game with a 3.10 ERA. Arizona drew more walks than her average, but they couldn’t turn them into runs at a reliable enough clip. Only three of the five runs scored by the Wildcats were earned.
Sydney Stewart walked to lead off the second, but the next three batters went down on strikes.
The Wildcats had a little more luck in the third. Lucas drew a leadoff walk. Addison Duke reached on an error, which also got pinch runner Kiki Escobar to third with no outs. Regan Shockey had one of her two strikeouts for the first out. Sereniti Trice got one run in with a fielder’s choice, but that’s all Arizona could get.
As happened repeatedly, a step forward by the Wildcat offense meant two steps back when the defense returned to the field. Arizona gave up two runs in the top of the fourth to put themselves in a bigger hole than before.
Up Next for Arizona Softball
Who: ASU Sun Devils (22-7, 2-4) @ No. 13 Arizona Wildcats (21-7, 4-2)
When: Saturday Mar. 21 @ 6 p.m. MST; Sunday, Mar. 22 @ 12 p.m. MST
Where: Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Ariz.
Streaming: ESPN+ (Saturday, Sunday)
Radio: 1400 AM (KTUC)
Stats: Arizona Live Stats (Saturday, Sunday)
The Wildcats headed into the bottom of the fourth trailing 13-1. Stewart started things off with single, and Grace Jenkins gave Arizona two baserunners when Brown hit her with a pitch. A strikeout kept both in place, but Sniffen used a single to load the bases with one out.
ASU’s second error of the game allowed Lucas to reach and two to score. Arizona had two in scoring position and still just one out. Duke’s double brought two more across, cutting the ASU lead to eight.
“It’s just getting the right pitch and putting a good swing on it, keeping it simple, and not making the moment too big,” Duke said. “And just doing what you can for the team.”
If Arizona could keep the lead at eight in the top of the fifth and cut into it in the bottom, the game would continue. The pitching had to step up and put an end to the endless parade of ASU baserunners, though.
That didn’t happen. Arizona gave up three home runs in the top of the fifth, including the second of the game by Schepp.
It was now 16-5 and the Wildcats would have to score four runs for the second straight inning just to extend the game. While they have done that several times this year, including against some of the best teams in the game, they couldn’t replicate the feat.
Stewart walked to lead off the inning yet again. She moved to second on a throwing error and third on a wild pitch, but her teammates couldn’t get her in. Two strikeouts ended the game with the Arizona catcher still standing on third base.
Stewart and Duke had the most offensive success. Stewart went 1 for 1 with 2 walks. She also scored a run. Duke was 1 for 2 with 2 RBI. She had the only extra-base hit of the game for Arizona.
On Tuesday, Lowe said that Wild’s injury is much like the one suffered by Carlie Scupin in 2023. She acknowledged that people heal differently from the same injuries, but said Scupin’s absence was a general guideline for how long Wild would be out.
Scupin was hurt on Mar. 15, 2023 and returned on Apr. 28. Wild’s injury occurred on Mar. 14. A similar absence would likely have her back for the final regular season series of the season which will be played May 1-3 at Utah.
