Arizona All-American catcher Sydney Stewart didn’t get a lot to hit this weekend. She walked six times in the three-game series, but once again she got one good pitch and made Baylor pay. Her three-run homer put Arizona ahead in the fourth inning on the way to a 6-3 Wildcat win to sweep the series and finish 6-1 on a seven-game homestand.
“I just wasn’t getting pitched a lot this weekend,” Stewart said. “So, I have to be selective and not trying to extend on things that aren’t in my plan. So, yeah,
that pitch before was borderline, but ultimately, just got to stick to the plan and I got my pitch.”
It wasn’t the last of Stewart’s big moments. After the game, Wildcat great Jennie Finch took the field to give the catcher her “golden ticket” to the AUSL. The moment was almost as big for Finch as it was for Stewart.
“It’s all the warm fuzzies,” Finch said. “Feels like home. It’s been way too long. I’ll tell you that I text a lot of my teammates saying, Okay, we got to get back here all together soon. Next season. Let’s plan it. So, super special to be back, and even more special to be here with AUSL for this moment.”
The “warm fuzzies” were shared by many.
“It means so much, especially coming from a legend here at the U of A,” Stewart said. “Jennie Finch, seeing her walk out, was so special. And also just having my family and my teammates alongside me, my coaches. It meant the world to me.”
The honor, which was accomplished by former Arizona pitcher/first baseman Devyn Netz last year, gives players a guaranteed spot in the professional league, although they do not know where or by whom they have been drafted. The process of announcing team selections will play out publicly on ESPN2 on May 4.
“I was super bummed and so sad last year when I wasn’t able to make Devyn’s, and so when I got the phone call, I was like, whatever it takes, I’m going to Tucson,” Finch said. “Like, that’s mine. I’m going there. I’m going to make it happen.”
The announcement was even sweeter after the Wildcats fought through their first deficit of the weekend to complete the series sweep and take possession of second place in the Big 12. Baylor came into the series in second, primarily because it had already had its bye week and played fewer games.
The Bears were 5-1 as of Thursday while Arizona was 6-3. The Wildcats finished the weekend 9-3 to Baylor’s 5-4. Arizona will have its conference bye in two weeks when it travels to Baton Rouge for a nonconference series against LSU.
Two-out damage was big for both teams. All nine runs scored in the game came with two down.
Walks were also damaging for both teams. Arizona ace Jalen Adams only gave up four hits but she put five on via walks and hit another batter. Baylor starter Cambree Creager allowed 11 hits and walked four.
The Baylor Bears took their first lead of the series in the third inning when they scored three. It started with a two-out walk. Two singles brought in the first two runs, with the RBI going to former Wildcat Amber Toven. Leah Cran then hit a double to center to drive in Toven.
“[Toven’s] always been a great athlete, great defender, and wish her nothing but the best,” Lowe said. “She plays the game hard. And, yeah, you see top to bottom in this conference, man, I think we’re playing against some of the best defenses. For sure, the best pitching staffs. I mean, there was a stretch there where we were facing an All-American every single day, and that’s exactly what we want.”
Arizona answered right back. Regan Shockey led off an inning for the second time in the game, and Stewart took her second walk of the game. While the first one was went to a full count, this plate appearance was four straight balls.
It almost didn’t get to that, though. Shockey led off the inning with a single, then both Sereniti Trice and Tayler Biehl flied out. Biehl’s went to shallow right field. Despite it being fairly close, Shockey tagged and took off for second. It was risky, but she is fast.
Shockey was initially called out, but she immediately jumped up and insisted it wasn’t the case. Arizona challenged. Meanwhile, Baylor challenged that she left early on the tag up. The review stretched on for several minutes. The officials came back onto the field to announce that Shockey was right and Baylor was wrong. She was safe and she didn’t leave early.
That left first base open. Stewart was promptly walked to fill it.
Shockey moved up again on a wild pitch, putting runners on the corners for Grace Jenkins. Jenkins came through with an RBI single to put a run on the board for the Wildcats and move Stewart to third. Another single by Kez Lucas made it 3-2 in Baylor’s favor. That’s how things stood heading into the fourth.
Adams dealt with runners on base for most of the game, but she didn’t break again. Baylor did not score another run after the big third inning. Arizona, on the other hand, tacked more runs on in the fourth and fifth.
“Just really trusting my spin and trusting my defense behind me,” Adams said about how she got through it. “They made some amazing plays today, especially [Jenna Sniffen] and Tay. They really hold it down.”
Stewart’s third plate appearance was the one that broke the Bears. Baylor thought the fourth pitch of the at-bat was strike three, but home plate umpire Brady Sanderson disagreed. He called it 2-2. The fifth pitch from Creager went high over the batter’s eye to score Shockey, Sereniti Trice, and Stewart. Arizona was on top to stay.
“That’s been a difference maker for her this year,” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said. “I think is being able to put a good swing on her pitch, and really not let other stuff bother her…Credit to Regan and Biddy for being on base, because I think that’s why she gets pitched to in that at-bat, and then credit to her for stepping up in a big moment for us.”
The fifth had some drama. Two straight groundouts brought up Tele Jennings with two outs. She smacked the ball to left center for a double. It was Jennings’ fourth hit in 10 at-bats over the weekend. She brought her batting average up from .231 to .304 in the three outings.
“We’re developing our tails off here,” Lowe said when asked about the impact of hitting coach Amber Freeman. “I think one thing is, if you buy into the system, you’re going to be better. And I think you’re seeing quite a few players just fall in love with being coached hard and being told the truth and looking stuff right in the eye…Sometimes it’s hard to look at it and say, I’m not very good right now, and how am I going to get better?…It’s up to them to have the right mindset, to show up and get better every day and be ready when their number’s called, and I think Tele is a great example of that this weekend.”
Addison Duke followed with a single to right, and pinch runner Kiki Escobar tried to make it home. The ball came back in quickly, and Escobar had to dive and crawl back to third to avoid making the third out.
It didn’t matter. Shockey’s slap bounced high into the air and over Toven’s head. Shockey was safe and Escobar scored Arizona’s sixth run of the game.
Baylor did threaten in the top of the seventh, but a baserunning error and the Wildcats’ ability to think on their feet won out.
Olivia Buettner led off with a walk, but was wiped away by a fielder’s choice. That put the speedy Sa’Mya Jones on first. She just wasn’t quite speedy enough.
Karynton Dawson flied out to Duke in left field. Jones tried to tag up and get into scoring position despite her one run not making a difference in a 6-3 game.
Duke airmailed the ball over Trice, who was the cutoff. Trice hustled back to second while Lucas backed up the play and threw it to second for the out. Game over on a wild double play.
Adams gave up three runs, all of them earned, to slightly lower her ERA to 3.15. She threw 91 pitches in the complete game. It was her second complete game of the weekend, although the first one ended by the run rule after six innings.
“She’s one of the most hard working people that I know,” Stewart said. “She reviews film. She is always like, can I get that little more outside? Get that little more down? So she’s always looking to improve, which is really going to push us to where we want to be.”
Stewart had just five official at-bats over the three-game series because of the six walks. She was 2 for 5 with seven RBI and four runs scored.
Shockey had a huge offensive weekend, going 10 for 12 with two RBI, five runs scored, and a stolen base. She even hit a double.
The Wildcats will travel to Ames to play Iowa State next week. The series, which runs Thursday through Saturday, will have Trice playing against her old team and Adams back in her home state.
“I’m really excited,” Adams said. “I hear it’s supposed to be kind of cold, which I’m not looking forward to, but it’ll be really cool to play in front of that many people that have kind of followed me all throughout my career. So I’m just really excited to be surrounded with a bunch of love.”
