The end of the regular season is upon the college softball world. There’s still a lot to be determined for most of the Big 12. The Utah Utes and No. 19 Arizona Wildcats will determine it at Dumke Family Softball Stadium in Salt Lake City.
Arizona controls its own destiny as far as where it will end up in the Big 12 standings. If the Wildcats sweep the Utes, they will finish second. That means avoiding top seed Texas Tech until the finals of the Big 12 Softball Tournament next week. If they drop even
one game, several other teams could overtake them.
The Utes are currently seventh in the league standings, mere thousandths of percentage points behind sixth-place Arizona State in winning percentage after the Sun Devils defeated BYU on Thursday. They are desperately trying to stay within the top eight to maintain their place in the conference tournament field.
How do Arizona and Utah match up in their pursuits of seeds or, in the case of the Ute, inclusion in the tournament?
Records and strengths of schedule
The Wildcats finished their nonconference slate 19-7 with nine out-of-conference games against teams in the top 25 of RPI. Six of the nine games were played on the road or neutral fields. They went 3-6 in those games, including taking a road game against Stanford and another road game against LSU. The other win was a home win over Oklahoma.
Overall, they are 34-13 heading into the final regular season series of the year. In addition to their nine nonconference games against the top 25 of RPI, they had nine more in conference play. They went 4-5 in those games for an overall record of 7-11 against the RPI top 25.
Once again, most of those games were away from Hillenbrand. Six of the nine top 25 games against conference opponents were played in Lubbock, Tex. and Stillwater, Okla. The Wildcats went 2-4 in those road games. Twelve of their 18 games against the RPI top 25 were on the road or neutral fields.
Utah’s nonconference schedule included just one game against the RPI top 25. That was an 11-0 loss in five innings to UCLA at the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, Calif.
The Utes are 33-18-1 heading into the final week of the regular season. The tie came against UCF in a game that was called after nine innings so Utah could make its plane back home. It ended with a score of 2-2.
In addition to their game against the Bruins, the Utes have had 12 games against the RPI top 25 in conference play for a total of 13 this season. In Big 12 play, they went 4-7-1 with a sweep of ASU and a 1-2 series loss to Texas Tech. The games were evenly split between home and away during league play. They were 3-2-1 on the road, including the road sweep of ASU and the tie against UCF.
Overall, that gave Utah a 4-8-1 record against the top 25 of RPI with seven of the 13 games coming on the road or neutral fields.
Pitching
Utah is ranked second in the Big 12 in staff ERA (2.73) for the entire season, but they fall to sixth (4.48) when only league games are considered. The Utes’ staff threw 333.1 innings in 52 games overall. They worked 134.1 innings in Big 12 play.
Both overall and conference stats are better than Arizona. Although nonconference strength of schedule certainly plays into overall stats, that isn’t relevant in Big 12 play since Utah had a more difficult conference schedule based on league standings and RPI.
The Wildcats are eighth in the rankings both overall and in conference play. Overall, the UA staff has a 4.59 ERA in 280.1 innings pitched across 47 games. That jumps to 5.69 in 124.1 innings against Big 12 opponents.
Across the entire season, Utah had a 1.35 staff WHIP compared to Arizona’s 1.68. That jumped to 1.74 in conference play for the Utes and 1.83 for the Wildcats.
Utah pitchers allowed 1.15 home runs per 7 innings in conference games and 0.67 per 7 innings across the entire season. Arizona gave up 1.80 home runs per 7 IP in Big 12 play and 1.35 HR/7 IP across the season.
Only BYU (33) and Houston (69) gave up more home runs in league play than UA despite Arizona pitching the fewest innings in the Big 12 due to the number of run-rule wins (9) and losses (3) on its schedule. Iowa State is tied with Arizona at 32, although the Cyclones have pitched five more innings than the Wildcats in conference play.
The Wildcats’ pitchers weren’t as bad when it came to the other primary extra-base hit. They gave up the third fewest doubles in the Big 12 with 24 overall during conference play. That worked out to 1.35 doubles per 7 IP. Overall, the Wildcats surrendered 47 doubles, good for fourth-best in the league. That totaled 1.17 per 7 IP.
The Utes gave up the most doubles in the league with 38 against league opponents. That equals 1.98 per 7 IP. They gave up the second-most across the entire season with 66, equaling 1.39 per 7 IP.
Utah’s pitchers are also prone to giving up the least common extra-base hits. They gave up a league worst 10 triples over the entire season compared to just three for Arizona. Three of those triples came in Big 12 play while Arizona didn’t surrender any to the other members of the conference.
Batting
With pitching lagging in the bottom half of the Big 12, Arizona relies heavily on its offense to win games. It has scored eight or more runs in 28 of its 34 wins. It has only won twice when scoring fewer than six runs.
While the overall stats look like they’re down for the Wildcats this year, a closer look tells a different story.
Despite having fewer players getting extra-base hits this year, those who are hitting them are getting more per opponents’ 7 IP than last year. Arizona is hitting 1.64 home runs per 7 innings this season. Last year, that number was 1.57. The Wildcats hit 1.40 doubles per 7 innings last season. That has jumped to 1.64 this year.
Speed on the basepaths has also increased this year. Stolen bases sit at 0.93 per 7 innings this season. That’s an increase from 0.84 last season. Last year, the Wildcats had an 83 percent success rate when they attempted to steal a base. So far this year, that’s jumped to 92 percent.
Those improvements play into the Wildcats’ offensive advantage over the Utes. Arizona has actually improved its batting average in league play, going from second overall (.355) to first against Big 12 opponents (.381) with a jump of .026 in conference play. Utah is eighth overall (.303) and ninth in league play (.265).
The Wildcats are third in doubles during Big 12 play with 33 despite 38 percent of its games being truncated by the run rule. Three more of its home games did not require final at-bats because Arizona led after the top of the seventh.
Only 12 of Arizona’s 21 conference games have been regulation length in 2026. One lasted 10 innings. Six ended after five and two more went six innings.
The Utes are ranked 11th in the league with just 19 doubles in league play. Its deficit in extra-base hits doesn’t end there, either.
Arizona is fourth with 32 home runs in conference play compared to Utah at 10th with 16. Arizona has three triples in league play to Utah’s two. In all, that comes to 68 extra-base hits for 203 total bases for the Wildcats. The Utes have 37 extra-base hits that have gone for 108 total bases.
Overall, Arizona has a league-leading 212 hits in Big 12 competition. Utah has 141, which ranks 10th of 11 teams.
The Wildcats are second in the conference with 180 runs scored off those hits, trailing Texas Tech by just six runs. Utah is ranked last with 92 runs scored in conference play.
Fielding
Arizona’s fielding percentage isn’t one of its best this season. In conference play, the Wildcats are fielding.968. Overall, they’re at .972. That may not be the best in program history, but it’s still good for this year’s Big 12.
Arizona is ranked second in fielding percentage in league play. The .972 overall fielding percentage is listed fourth.
Utah trails the Wildcats both in league play and overall. The Utes’ .962 league fielding percentage ranks ninth. Overall, they are at .955, which comes in last.
The Wildcats lead the league with their program-record 40 double plays this season. Fourteen of those have come against conference opponents. That also ranks first this year.
Despite their overall fielding issues, Utah has been fairly effective at the twin-killers, too. Overall, the Utes have 28 double plays, second only to Arizona. They have turned 11 of those in Big 12 play. While that’s only three fewer than the Wildcats have turned, it’s listed as fifth in the Big 12 due to several ties.
Up Next for Arizona Softball
Who: No. 19 Arizona Wildcats (34-13, 15-6) @ Utah Utes (33-18-1, 8-12-1)
When: Friday, May 1 @ 4 p.m. MST; Saturday May 2 @ 11 a.m. MST; Sunday, May 3 @ 11 a.m. MST
Where: Dumke Family Softball Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT
Streaming: ESPN+ (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Stats: Arizona Live Stats (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
