Arizona softball's Sydney Stewart stomps personal home run records

Junior catcher/utility Sydney Stewart has stood tall for Arizona, stomping her previous personal home run records.

Stewart has seven home runs this season in 18 games. The transfer from Washington also has three home runs in her last three games, which includes tilts with then-No. 20 Stanford and then-No. 1 Texas. In her first two years at Washington, the 6-1 slugger had seven round-trippers, though five of those did come last year.

“I mean, I feel like given my body and looking at my height, people usually expect the power, but I just try to take it pitch by pitch and like I said before, if it ends up as a home, it ends up as a home run,” Stewart said. “But this year, I definitely have been focusing on more leverage and trying to work for more like extra-base hits or just getting like more runs in for my team, so I can see that the work is paying off and I’m just hopeful that I can stay consistent throughout season.”

UA head coach Caitlin Lowe said Stewart, the tallest player on the team, is off to a fantastic start.

“I’m just happy for her when she comes to the plate, and she’s so hungry like she was in the last two games,” Lowe said Sunday. “It’s just exciting to see cause I mean, I trust her hitting off anyone right now, and it’s awesome when we get those people on in front of her, cause I know, when 6-foot-1 walks up to the plate it feels a little bit different.

“But just proud of the way she swung the bat and made a difference this weekend when she continues to get better and just excited for her growth.”

No. 10 Arizona (16-2) and Stewart look to continue their hot streak when they travel to Fullerton, Calif., for the Judi Garman Classic, Friday through Sunday. Their foes include No. 4 UCLA and No. 23 San Diego State.

Lowe said when Stewart was in the portal she did think she could hit for so much power.

“I think she’s become a very good hitter and I think you can be a swinger or you could be a hitter and she’s become a hitter and she can make adjustments and get her barrel to stuff,” Lowe said. “She can anticipate in the right moments but she packs a punch man, I wish I was that kind of player that could miss hit a fly all over the fence; that was not my jam, but she does a great job of just committing and competing in those moments.

“I think (hitting and catchers coach) Amber’s (Freeman) done a great job with her and she’s walking up with a whole lot of confidence and that’s what matters against really good pitching.”

Stewart started her Wildcat career with two home runs and a double in her first game. Her first UA at-bat was a home run.

It also came as several UW players were sitting behind home plate for UA’s 15-0 win over Michigan State. UA played Washington in that first tournament, Candrea Classic, going 1-1 against their former Pac-12 rivals and Stewart’s last school.

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“It was different, it was weird, playing against my old teammates, but I still talk to them to this day,” Stewart said. “They’re some of my best friends, but being able to see some of them, just step into the role and just grow is so cool to see, I feel like I’m a proud mom sometimes because I know that my best friends, like sophomores are stepping up really big, but yeah, like I said, the game is the game, so I just try to keep it as simple as that.”

On the Wildcats, she is sixth in batting average (.404), tied for first in home runs, second in doubles with five, first in RBIs with 25, first in total bases with 47, third in slugging percentage (.904) and second in walks with 14.

Senior pitcher/infielder Devyn Netz, who won Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday, said Stewart’s help at catcher leads to her pitching success.

“Um, honestly, I always tell Stewie every inning just lead me and lead me at every pitch and tell me what’s working, what’s not working,” Netz said, “so that we can just work together because I’m only as good as her leading me.”

Going into Wednesday’s games, nationally, Stewart was tied for ninth in RBIs, tied for 17th in the country in home runs and tied for 23rd in total bases.

On March 16 at Arizona last year, she hit a home run in the Huskies’ 11-3 win over the Wildcats.

“It’s just something different here,” Stewart said about picking UA. “Like even last year when I was with Washington playing here, the atmosphere is insane and then when I came on my visit here, the sense of family and like belonging was insane and I knew from the jump that this was the place for me.”

Extra bases

— Netz’s Big 12 Pitcher of the Week award was the UA’s third weekly award they have won in their three weeks playing in the conference. It is also Arizona’s first conference Pitcher of the Week since 2021 when Alyssa Denham and Mariah Lopez won it. Netz went 2-0 last week, beating Stanford twice, striking out 14 batters and holding it to a .151 batting average over 15⅓ innings pitched.

— Junior utility Kaiah Altmeyer won Big 12 Player of the Week after the first tournament and graduate student pitcher/infielder Miranda Stoddard won NFCA Player of the Week and the Big 12 Player of the Week after UA’s second tourney.

— The Wildcats moved up to No. 10 in the USA Softball/ESPN rankings and to 12th in the NFCA rankings. Last week, they were No. 11 in the USA Softball poll and 13th according to the NFCA.