Utah needed a win to hold onto any hopes of getting into the Big 12 Softball Tournament. A lackluster outing by the No. 19 Arizona Wildcats gave them that hope. The Utes dominated in all aspects of play on the way to a 5-1 victory in Salt Lake City.
Arizona managed just five hits. One of those resulted in an out, though, as Kez Lucas was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double to lead off the sixth inning. It might have started a rally. Instead, it was another nail in the coffin on a day of futility.
The loss could have opened the door for Oklahoma State to leap over Arizona in the Big 12 standings. A win by the Cowgirls would have tied the two teams on record, but OSU holds the tiebreaker. Instead, Kansas proved it’s no pretender with a 10-1 victory in five innings in Stillwater. That result means the Wildcats retain second place and continue to control their own destiny.
They could have controlled that destiny on Saturday, but nothing seemed to go right. The only run on the board came off the bat of Sydney Stewart. Arizona’s star catcher went down and sent a pitcher’s pitch over the wall in the top of the seventh inning.
The solo shot gave Stewart a share of the Big 12 lead for home runs with 20, but it didn’t do much for the Wildcats’ chances. Giving up a homer to Stewart with no one on base is a mere annoyance.
Utah lefty Hailey Maestretti gave up five hits and one walk in 7.0 innings. Only Stewart’s hit made any difference.
It was a much different situation for Arizona’s pitchers. In total, they gave up five runs on 13 hits and a hit batter. Two hits left the yard and another went for three bases.
Rylie Holder got the start. She went 2.1 innings and took the loss. She allowed nine hits that Utah turned into three runs.
Holder had problems from the start, although she dodged the bullet for the first couple of innings. She allowed three hits in the first inning, including a one-out triple. Utah got the runner in from third, but that’s all they got out of the situation.
Arizona’s freshman pitcher gave up two singles to lead off the second inning, but she buckled down and dismissed the next three hitters. No damage. Utah’s lead was still just 1-0.
A one-out solo shot in the third changed that, and it didn’t stop there. Three straight singles brought in a third run for the Utes. That ended Holder’s day.
Sophomore Jenae Berry came in with two on, two in, and just one out. Utah moved the runners with a bunt, but now Berry had two outs. She loaded the bases with a hit-by-pitch. A strikeout got Arizona back into the dugout.
Berry did well in the fourth and fifth innings. She allowed one hit in each inning, but Utah posed no real offensive threat. Things changed in the sixth.
Utah used a single, a passed ball, and a sacrifice bunt to move a runner to third base. Then, small ball gave way to the Utes’ second home run of the day. The two-run shot off the bat of Danika Wilson ended the game for all intents and purposes.
Berry went 3.2 innings. She gave up two earned runs on four hits and a hit batter.
Arizona finally got on the board in the top of the seventh, but the Wildcats didn’t really threaten the Utah lead. It was more of the same.
The table-setters at the top of the order didn’t do much table-setting throughout the game. Both Regan Shockey and Sereniti Trice went 0-for-3.
Neither Stewart nor Tele Jennings had anyone on base to drive in for most of the game. Stewart got around that by driving in herself, but the hole was already too deep by then. Both the 3-hole and cleanup hitters had 1-for-3 days at the plate.
Those later in the lineup had similar issues. Emma Kavanagh and Kiki Escobar had 0-fer days at the plate. Grace Jenkins went 0-for-2 with a walk.
The two teams will vie for the series win on Sunday morning. The final day of the regular season will have postseason implications across the conference. If Arizona wins, it will be the second seed in the Big 12 Tournament. If the Wildcats lose, they need Kansas to defeat OSU again or they will drop behind the Cowgirls.
