By the time you were finishing your lunch Saturday afternoon, the No. 14-ranked Arizona softball team was wrapping up a tripleheader on the final day of a rain-marred Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. The Wildcats fell 2-1 to No. 4 Oklahoma in Palm Springs, California, after they run-ruled UC Santa Barbara 9-1.
After rain canceled the first day of the tournament, the Wildcats and Gauchos rescheduled their game from Thursday to Saturday morning. UA also played the Japan national team in an exhibition Saturday afternoon, winning 1-0.
A matchup with the fourth-ranked Sooners featured a pitchers' duel between Giselle Juarez and UA senior Taylor McQuillin, coming off her second consecutive shutout just a night earlier. The two combined to allow just three baserunners through the first five innings. OU logged two hits and Arizona reached on a walk.
McQuillin (3-4) issued a leadoff walk in the sixth and OU capitalized, with Sydney Romero hitting a two-run homer two batters later for the first runs of the game.
Arizona had its first hit of the game in the bottom of the seventh off the bat of Jessie Harper. Dejah Mulipola singled in Harper to cut the deficit in half, but Mulipola was thrown out in a run-down at first and the Wildcats never had a runner in scoring position after that.
McQuillin, who at one point retired 11 straight batters, finished with five strikeouts and allowed three hits and a walk, but took the tough-luck loss.
Against UC Santa Barbara in the first game of the morning, Arizona scored seven runs on six hits in the bottom of the first inning.Â
Freshman pitcher Marissa Schuld (1-0) earned her first win in only her second appearance and first start as a Wildcat. She allowed five hits with one strikeout and a walk across four innings.Â
Another freshman, Vanessa Foreman, pitched the fifth and didn't allow a baserunner.
Tamara Statman hit her second home run of the season and finished 2 for 3, Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza went 2 for 3 with an RBI, and Hannah Martinez went 2 for 2 with a pair of RBIs.
Arizona came out of the Mary Nutter Classic with a 9-5 overall record, and now turns to next week's Wildcat Invitational. UA opens the event at Hillenbrand Stadium against Drake at 6 p.m. Thursday.
