Arizona softball kicks off Big 12 play after dominant start to the season

The Arizona softball team begins Big 12 play after a dominant start to the season.

The No. 7 Wildcats (21-2) have won seven in a row and 19 of their last 20, with the only loss in that span coming in extra innings to then-No. 1 Texas.

UA is 5-1 against ranked teams — three of those by run rule — and has 10 mercy rule wins overall.

Senior pitcher/infielder Devyn Netz said the Wildcats are really confident going into Big 12 play.

“It feels amazing and I think it’s something that we need a hold on to knowing that we have like done really well against my opponents, especially, top-10 ranked opponents and so we’re really excited to go into this,” Netz said.

UA leads the Big 12 in batting (.397), is fifth in pitching (2.60 ERA) and is second in fielding (.976 fielding percentage). Sophomore utility Regan Shockey is third in batting average (.483), grad student pitcher/infielder Miranda Stoddard is first in slugging (1.054), junior utility Kaiah Altmeyer is second in on-base percentage (.585), Stoddard is second in OPS (1.543), Shockey is first in runs (29) and hits (42) and junior utility Sydney Stewart is first in home runs (8) and RBIs (31).

In the Big 12’s pitching stats, Netz is fifth in strikeouts (48) and first in wins (8); grad student Saya Swain is first in hits (17); and Stoddard is first in walks (3).

UA hosts UCF (17-7-1) this weekend in its first Big 12 series.

“It’s gonna be fun and I think the cool thing for us, this is when our pitching depth is really gonna be challenged … we’re gonna need a lot of arms to win a three-game series,” said UA head coach Caitlin Lowe. “So I think it’s just a cool new challenge, yeah, we’re going to play in different cities, but at the the end of the day, the goal is the same. So we want to play our version of softball and kind of build and become our best team towards the end of the year.”

UA moved up to No. 7 in the USA Softball/ESPN poll and up to ninth in the NFCA rankings. Two other Big 12 teams are ranked in the USA Softball poll, No. 13 Oklahoma State and No. 15 Texas Tech.

The NCAA debuted its RPI this week, with Arizona at No. 4 as of Thursday morning. Oklahoma State is No. 11, Texas Tech No. 16, Houston No. 22 and UCF No. 23.

“There’s many different versions of it now,” Lowe said. “We have the RPI, the KPI, ones that are live, ones that aren’t live, but I think the great thing is we’ve been able to play a really good strength of schedule this year and that’s helped us in a lot of ways. It’s helped us be prepared for these big moments in big games early on and at the same time get tested over and over, every single weekend.

“So, yeah, I think the strength of schedule is good and our conference has done a very good job, too.”

UCF is the only Big 12 team UA doesn’t have an all-time winning record against, as it is 1-1 against the Knights.

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“I think we have a ton of talent in the Big 12 and I think some of the best pitching’s in this conference, some of the best innings in this conference, so I think every single weekend is gonna be a challenge,” Lowe said. “We have a very good UCF team stepping into the stadium this weekend, they have a great pitching staff, a lot of different looks.

“So we’re gonna have to make adjustments right away and set a tone right away for each of these games,” she added. “So I don’t think you can overlook anybody, I think this is gonna be the perfect conference to get us prepared for the first season and challenge us every step of the way and that’s what we want, we want to be challenged and overcome challenges.”

Beating the Bruins

One of their highlights of the nonconference slate was UA’s 9-8 win in 10 innings over then-No. 4 UCLA on Saturday in Fullerton, Calif.

Netz threw a 10-inning complete game, and the Wildcats came back three times in the home innings, including scoring three in the bottom of the 10th.

“Honestly, it was one of the best games I’ve been a part of at any point in my life, just because there was so much back and forth,” Lowe said. “There were so many ranges of emotions that our players had to deal with. I think Devyn being able to throw that full game was really cool to see, because there are a lot of points where she could of kind of throw in the towel and she didn’t.

“Her team fought back for her and she fought back offensively, too, to get us in a position to win the game there at the end,” she added. “So just proud of the guts that they showed and I think that made us a better team at the end of the day after that kind of game.”

UA had lost 11 of its last 12 to UCLA before Saturday.

“It was definitely like a big mental battle for me, but knowing that my team just was there for me and keep me in the game, but also just had my back the entire time felt amazing,” Netz said, “but it was definitely a brawl of the weekend for sure, and it was definitely worth every single ending of it, but it was exhausting. It was super fun.”

Extra bases

— On Friday, the UA is giving away pennants. On Saturday, it is giving away International Women’s Day stickers, and Sunday is Military Appreciation Day and “Sunday Funday.”

— UA’s game on Monday against Utah State has been moved up an hour and will start at noon.