Arizona Wildcats head coach Caitlin Lowe remembers the beginning of last year’s Big 12 softball season. A heavily favored Arizona wasn’t sharp and a hungry UCF Knights team took two of three games in Tucson. It set the Wildcats back immediately and they had little chance of challenging Texas Tech for the Big 12 crown.
“We have to make sure that we set the tone,” Lowe said. “We didn’t love the way we set the tone last year with UCF. So I think it’s going to be really important to take every game as it comes,
but also just be present in every moment. Because we’re not going to win the conference in one game, but we do need to make sure we’re doing our job in the moment and not making anything too big.”
BYU could well come into this series hungry. The Cougars had a difficult nonconference schedule with five games against top 25 teams. Three of those were against teams in the top 10 of at least one of the major polls. They played an additional six games against Power 4 competition outside the top 25. The end result was a 5-14 record coming into the conference part of the season.
The Cougars are an experienced team. They return 16 players from last season’s roster. Six players are hitting at least .308.
“They return most of their starting lineup, quite frankly,” Lowe said. “So I think they can always pack a punch, and it’s a matter of keeping them off balance and making sure that we set the tone for a weekend but also are the ones making adjustments on the fly faster, as with any three-game series.”
Up Next for Arizona Softball
Who: BYU Cougars (5-14) @ No. 13 Arizona Wildcats (17-5)
When: Thursday, Mar. 5 @ 6 p.m. MST; Friday, Mar. 7 @ 3 p.m. MST; Saturday, Mar. 8 @ 12 p.m. MST
Where: Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Ariz.
Streaming: ESPN+ (Thursday, Friday, Saturday)
Stats: Arizona Live Stats (Thursday, Friday, Saturday)
The problem for BYU has been in the circle, albeit against a solid schedule. No one on the Cougars’ pitching staff has an ERA below the 4.41 of Hailey Shuler. No one has a WHIP below the 1.56 of Kaysen Korth.
Shuler has pitched 27.0 innings so far this season, second on the team behind Gianna Mares. Mares has a 6.07 ERA and 2.09 WHIP in 45 IP. Her biggest problem has been walks. She has issued 40 this season. That works out to 0.89 per inning.
Getting a head start this conference season could set the Wildcats up for the postseason. The official RPI hasn’t come out yet, but the consensus in the rankings is that they are a top 16 team, which would mean hosting regionals again. Their average ranking in the four major polls is 14.75. Massey ratings have them at No. 12 and the composite on Massey has them at No. 13. WhoEarnedIt also has them at No. 12.
For some Wildcats, the goal might be getting beyond regionals this year. For others, it means the opportunity to play in the postseason for the first time.
Second baseman Sereniti Trice was part of an Iowa State team that finished third in the Big 12 last year but got left out of the NCAA postseason when the committee was unimpressed by its strength of schedule. She has a chance not only to play in the tournament at Arizona but perhaps even to play at home if the Wildcats can maintain their pace.
“We have expectations to just go as far as we can and just kind of play with each other and see where it takes us,” Trice said. “I think keep playing our game of softball, it’ll take us pretty far.”
