Arizona freshman pitcher Rylie Holder had to wait and wait, but she’s quickly emerged as an important player for the Wildcats.
Holder (2-0) missed Arizona softball’s first weekend due to injury as it went 1-2 against then No. 3 Oklahoma, but she kept busy.
“Oh, that sucked, but I had a job to do off the field, so I was there for (UA assistant coach) Christian (Conrad), I was there for other pitchers, just helping, doing anything I could,” Holder said. “It just sucked having to watch as we, obviously, lose those games to Oklahoma, but now I'm back and it's great to have the girls behind me.”
The wait to debut was even longer for Holder, as she committed to Arizona in September 2023.
“It was awesome,” Holder said about the wait. “I just kept in touch with the coaches, kept in touch with the players, watched them on TV and just kept working the same amount, if not more to be ready for when I got here.”
No. 14 Arizona (12-5) hosts the Hillenbrand Invitational Thursday through Sunday with Eastern Illinois, Long Beach State, Minnesota and Howard coming to town.
Holder was ranked No. 4 by Extra Inning Softball in its 2025 regional rankings and No. 10 in Line Drive Media Elite 100 for 2025.
“It's cliché, but when it feels right, it feels right, I felt that with (senior pitcher and transfer) Jalen (Adams) on the phone the first time I spoke to her and when Rylie got on campus,” said UA head coach Caitlin Lowe. “I mean, we knew we wanted her bad from the get-go, and when she stepped on campus with her family it was it was kind of a done deal from there.
“I think it just felt like a really, really good fit and yeah, she makes us better in all the ways and I'm happy to have her.”
Holder has made five appearances and four starts for the Wildcats, recording a 4.48 ERA over 20⅓ innings.
Arizona pitcher Rylie Holder high fives her teammates after a drill during an early morning practice at Hillenbrand Stadium, Oct. 15, 2025.
She got her biggest win against then-No. 10 Stanford on the road on Saturday. UA won 4-1 as Holder went six innings, allowing a run on six hits.
Lowe said the freshman has done “great” so far.
“I think the Stanford game was her at her best so far this season, her off-speed was working well, she was hitting really good spots, I think she progressively got better as the game went on,” Lowe said. “She got tested for the first time versus Texas as far as people making adjustments early and often, and we've established that none of us can get into hitters’ counts and really keep doing that throughout an entire game and not get burned by it.
“So I think it's just attacking with their best stuff and making sure that we're in the driver's seat the whole way and when we do have the one-off at bat, then we're right back to it the next one,” Lowe said. “So I'm proud of where she's at right now and I know she's a worker and she's gonna continue to grow over these experiences.”
That one run given up to the Cardinal was a home run to freshman infielder Addyson Sheppard, who Holder played travel ball with on Impact Gold.
“It was cool just to, like, see each other both do it at the next level,” Holder said. “She did great off me, so sorry for that, but it was really cool to meet her at that level.”
Impact Gold finished in third place at the 18U Alliance National Championship and second at the 16U Alliance National Championship.
Lowe feels like the Arizona pitching staff has had some “extremely bright spots” as the new team gets tested. The staff has a 4.40 ERA and .309 opponents’ batting average.
Arizona has a pitching staff of four, three of whom are new. The other two new pitchers, Adams, from Iowa and sophomore Jenae Berry, from Indiana, are transfers.
“I think when we built our schedule with a very new team, we needed to get tested and we needed to get tested early and often, and so now the message is, we know what it looks like and we have the answers in front of us, and now it's what we do with those answers,” Lowe said. “So I think now when you go into a bullpen, I just talked to (sophomore) Sarah (Wright) about her bullpen, it's very intentional for what you just saw, and how can we be better in those situations?
“So now it's up to us to make the adjustments so that when we face them again, it's a completely different team than they saw this weekend and just like establishing into our own identity, too, that's going to be important for this weekend is who we are, what we bring to the table on a daily basis.”
This season, under Conrad, UA’s pitching coach, Holder is working on the mental part of the game.
“There's so much more that goes into it than I thought before coming here, so just being mentally sharp and reading the batters and all that,” Holder said.
Although she’s already pitched three games against top 10 teams in Stanford and then No. 3 Texas, Holder isn’t focused on the rankings.
Arizona pitcher Rylie Holder works on her form during practice at Hillenbrand Stadium, Oct. 15, 2025.
“I don't really see the ranked teams part,” Holder said. “I just play my game and keep my head down and trust that my best stuff will beat their best thing.”
Holder is from Fulshear, Texas, and is enjoying Tucson’s weather so far.
“I feel great, I love the weather, it’s probably my favorite part right now,” Holder said. “No humidity is pretty awesome coming from Houston, I love the weather.”
Extra bases
– The Wildcats moved up to No. 14 from 16th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll. They are No. 14 in the NFCA coaches’ poll, No. 16 according to D1 Softball and No. 19 in the Softball America poll.
– Saturday is Black History Night, and after Sunday’s game, kids can run the bases.
