The last few weeks have had their challenges for the No. 16 Arizona Wildcats. Games have been rescheduled, they spent 10 days on the road, and they’re playing their third straight series away from Hillenbrand Stadium. Head coach Caitlin Lowe thinks there are positives from those situations that will help the team in the long run.
“Are you looking at the obstacle, that’s the biggest thing,” Lowe said. “It’s like we need to look at that as an opportunity to grow and get better. We want to face opponents
like this to help us grow into the postseason team that we’re going to be So when we get to face top notch pitching, it’s important, and it should be an opportunity to get better at the plate. They’re going to challenge our pitching. That’s an opportunity for our pitching to get better.”
One hitter who was really challenged as LSU was Regan Shockey. Shockey’s style of hitting is most productive on a very hard field. The field at LSU was anything but hard. Early in each game, it almost looked muddy. That doesn’t allow her slaps to bounce and it deadens anything hit on the ground.
Shockey went 10 for 12 in three games against Baylor during Arizona’s last homestand. During the trips to Iowa State and LSU, she was 8 for 23. While it was still a very effective .347 batting average, it was 90 points lower than her season average and it seemed like a few balls that would have been hits at home just weren’t on the road.
Shockey seized those opportunities, though. She improved over the two-week road trip. At Iowa State, she was just 2 for 11. Once she got to LSU, she was 2 for 4 in each of the three games.
Would Shockey be more effective if she moved to a power slap in some environments? Lowe doesn’t want her to focus on that part of the hitting equation.
“She took an awesome stride forward this weekend against LSU,” Lowe said. “I thought in hitting in whatever conditions, however she was going to be pitched, she used all of her tools. And sometimes she feels like those tools can get taken away, and it really isn’t the case at all. She just has to make sure she stays disciplined to her approach and what she wants to do. She’s her best when she’s in a tactical mindset and understanding, like she sees all the defenders, she knows how she’s being thrown, and then she executes it accordingly, instead of kind of focusing on what her tool needs to be. It’s like, let me see the whole game and what is my job, and what am I going to be called upon to do here?”
Up Next for Arizona Softball
Who: No. 16 Arizona Wildcats (30-11, 11-4) @ No. 21 Oklahoma State Cowgirls (28-11, 9-6)
When: Friday, Apr. 17 @ 1 p.m. MST, Saturday Apr. 18 @ 12 p.m. MST; Sunday, Apr. 19 @ 9 a.m. MST
Where: Cowgirl Stadium in Stillwater, OK
TV: ESPN2 (Saturday)
Streaming: ESPN+ (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Stats: Arizona Live Stats (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Shockey wasn’t the only one who had to adapt to conditions. Arizona’s power hitters had some issues at LSU because of the high winds that were blowing directly in. The team hit just one home run all weekend. That was a no-doubter to left field by Sydney Stewart in the final game.
“That’s something that we have to be really good at adjusting at, because the wind was…a strong wind in and…we’re in the SEC, so the air is a little bit thicker,” Lowe said. “So it’s understanding we hit three balls on the screws Friday that they were catching at the warning track. So we have to be able to hit line drives, hard ground balls in that environment. And that’s where it really benefits us to play a series like that on the road and understand what that looks like, what it feels like, and how do we work around it?”
The players do get some time to adapt to each environment. Due to the schedule change at Iowa State, they actually got more practice time at LSU than they typically get.
It’s not just about hitting, either. The defense has to adapt to how balls move on both the ground and through the air.
“That’s what our practice is for the day before,” said senior shortstop Tayler Biehl. “Especially LSU, we were able to practice two days, which is nice…You just trust yourself. And it’s like, on our field, the ball skips a little bit, but like LSU and Iowa State, the ball stayed down a little bit more. So just kind of giving yourself those cues of, we know how it feels. We practice on it. We got BP on it. All those things…it plays a little bit different, but it’s still a ground ball, and you still need to read it and keep your feet going with it. So it’s not all that different, but just trusting ourselves and trusting our teammates that regard less of the circumstance, we can still get ground balls and get balls off the wall and make plays.”
Arizona was able to make those plays, including three double plays against LSU on Sunday. That put them over the top to set a program record with 34 double plays this season. They still have nine regular season games, the Big 12 Tournament, and the NCAA postseason to add to that.
Two of those double plays came when third baseman Jenna Sniffen caught sinking line drives and doubled up baserunners who had wandered too far off base. It’s all about being prepared before the pitcher ever gets into her windup.
“Tayler is, like, my rock over here,” Sniffen said. “I think games where I kind of struggle a little bit on balls that I should have is because of lack of communication, even pre-pitch, with Tayler…We’re out here five, six days a week, and we get plenty enough of those, whether that’s off of the bats of our teammates or a fungo rep. [It’s about] just trusting my myself and just being able to know that I can get anything that’s in reach.”
Arizona’s next opportunities come against No. 21 Oklahoma State in Stillwater beginning at 1 p.m. MST on Friday, Apr. 17. The three-game series is the last one the Wildcats have to get Quad 1 wins in the regular season. They are ranked No. 17 in the RPI while the Cowgirls are No. 20. After this weekend, the Wildcats face No. 82 Houston and No. 59 Utah. Houston does not even provide bonus RPI points since they are outside the top 75. Utah is a Quad 3 opponent.
With their chance to host regionals hovering in the balance, the Wildcats need to get some quality wins this weekend to solidify that position. At this point, the only Big 12 team that should feel comfortable about even hosting regionals in Texas Tech, and they will need to climb or have the committee discount their No. 10 RPI to have a shot at hosting super regionals.
“This is another challenge, opportunity, different set of circumstances, and we’re going to have to rise to the occasion, for sure,” Lowe said.
