Arizona softball’s two primary pitchers have been very good at keeping the ball in the park this season. The pair of Rylie Holder and Jalen Adams had given up a total of seven home runs all season.
That didn’t hold true on Saturday when No. 13 Arizona and No. 2 Texas Tech played a doubleheader instead of the regularly scheduled games on Saturday and Sunday.
The Wildcats lost the first game by the score of 14-6 in six innings. They returned to the field 30 minutes later and lost 8-0 in five innings.
Game 1: Arizona gets run-ruled in home run derby
It was positive news to see Holder in the starting lineup for the opener. The freshman pitcher was hit by a comebacker last Sunday and her status was unknown for this weekend. She wasn’t herself, though.
Holder came into the game having surrendered just two home runs this season. She gave up three in just over an inning of work. She was removed in the second inning after giving up three hits and two walks without recording an out. Two of the hits left the yard.
Arizona’s offense was hot to start the game. Sydney Stewart put the Wildcats up 2-0 with the first of her two home runs in the top of the first. The next inning, it was Addison Duke with a three-run shot. Arizona led 5-1 heading into the bottom of the second.
Holder had allowed a solo home run to Texas Tech starter Kaitlyn Terry in the first. She gave up another solo shot to start the second. Arizona still led 5-2 at that point, but then Holder lost contact with the strike zone.
She walked the next two batters. That was the breaking point, opening things for Desirae Spearman to tie the game with a three-run homer of her own. The single that followed brought Adams in to pitch for Arizona.
Adams promptly threw two wild pitches that allowed Hailey Toney to advance to third and then come home. TTU had its first lead of the weekend.
Arizona threw a punch back in the top of the third with Stewart’s leadoff home run. That ended Terry’s time in the circle for a while. It was also the last time the Wildcats would score.
It turned out that Samantha Lincoln was who the Red Raiders needed in the circle. She threw up the first zero of the day for TTU pitching in the fourth, and her offense responded in a big way.
After giving up no runs on Friday night, Adams allowed five to score in the bottom of the fourth. Once again, it was free bases that cost Arizona.
Adams got Spearman into a 1-2 count and then hit her with a pitch. It was the 14th hit batter of the season for the Wildcat senior. A single by Mihyia Davis brought Spearman in, then Terry’s two-run home run made it 9-6 for the home team.
Another walk and two singles scored a 10th run. Adams had herself out of the jam with a strikeout, but Stewart dropped the third strike and then threw it into the back of the runner. The ball skittered off into foul territory, allowing a fifth run in the inning. When the Wildcats finally got out of it, they were trailing 11-6.
The fifth was more trouble. Lincoln and Terry teamed up to put up a zero in the top of the inning, then the TTU offense continued in its groove.
Adams walked two and hit yet another batter to load the bases with two outs. Jenae Berry entered the circle but promptly gave up a single to let two of the inherited runners cross the plate. Arizona was one run from being run-ruled a day after setting a record for consecutive run rules.
Berry walked the next batter, but Tayler Biehl and Kiki Escobar teamed up to narrowly get the final out and send it to the sixth inning. Arizona went down quietly in the top of the inning, then Berry gave up the fifth home run of the day by Arizona pitching to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Game over. Run rules traded.
The teams combined for 21 hits, including eight home runs. Both Stewart and Terry hit two out of the park.
Game 2: Wildcats can’t shock NiJaree Canady two days in a row
Holder got the chance to regroup from the morning and return to the circle in the second game. It seemed like the best plan. Adams had faced the lineup 8.2 innings in about 18 hours, and they caught up with her in the second outing.
Holder started much stronger in the later outing. Her defense helped her along in the early going. She gave up a leadoff single, but a fielder’s choice was followed by a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play to end the inning. Texas Tech didn’t like the call at second base, but it stood up to review.
Arizona had at least one baserunner in the first, second, fourth, and fifth, but it couldn’t do anything with them.
One of those baserunners was Wild, a heroine in the Friday night win. She was hit by a pitch in her right forearm. She was in obvious pain and Emma Kavanagh came in to take over at designated player. Wild was one of three Arizona batters who were hit by Canady, joining Stewart and Kez Lucas.
As seems to happen to Holder at times, she started to struggle significantly after her defense made a mistake behind her. She walked the first batter of the second, but got the first out on a flyout to center.
Arizona tried to get their pitcher out of the inning with a double play, but things went awry. Escobar threw the ball away trying to get the runner at second. Holder had difficulty recovering.
A single drove in the first run. Another single put made it 2-0 for Texas Tech. A two-out single drove in a third run before the Wildcats got the runner trying to go to second for the third out. The Red Raiders were up 3-0.
Arizona might have scored nine runs against Canady on Friday, but that’s an extreme rarity. Being down by three runs was going to make it difficult to get the series win.
That got even more difficult when TTU tacked on two runs in the third. The second came across when Stewart threw to second to get Taylor Pannell stealing. The problem was that it was just the second out of the inning and Mia Williams was on third. She came in on the throw to second.
Arizona’s best chances against Canady came in the final two innings. Biehl and Stewart reached with no outs on a single and a HBP in the fourth. Jenkins, Kavanagh, and Jenna Sniffen couldn’t get them home.
The Wildcats came up in the fifth trailing 8-0 and needing at least a run to extend the game. Lucas became the third HBP victim of the game, bringing up Addison Duke. Duke gave one a ride. Whether it had enough to get out or not, Davis made the catch at the wall in centerfield. It was the last gasp.
Holder went 3.0 innings. She allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits. She walked two and struck out one.
Berry came in to relieve Holder to start the fourth. She recorded two outs but gave up a three-run home run that turned a 5-0 game into an 8-0 game.
Sarah Wright relieved Berry after the home run. She walked one batter and hit another in 0.1 IP but recorded the final out without giving up another run.
Arizona ends the weekend with a 3-6 record against four ranked teams this season. All four were ranked in the top 15 by the NFCA and the top 10 by USA Softball at the time the games were played. Three of the four were ranked in the top five by both polls. Four of the games were played on the road, two on neutral fields, and three at home.
The Wildcats next take on the Arizona State Sun Devils in Hillenbrand Stadium beginning Friday, Mar. 20.
