The power of the Arizona softball team has often made it feel as though the ball just kept getting bigger.
The Wildcats are the nation’s best team when it comes to the longball, and Arizona particularly tends to put on a power-hitting show when playing in the friendly confines of Hillenbrand Stadium.
Arizona has played 58 games this season; the Wildcats hit at least one home run in 47 of them, and that includes the five combined UA had in three games at the Tucson Regional.
Sunday, the Wildcats won the regional championship in a 9-0 victory over South Carolina, advancing UA to the Super Regional.
In this game the Wildcats only hit one home run, and it didn’t even come from a power hitter.
The ball usually seems bigger. In postseason play so far, though, the Wildcats have played small ball.
It seems to be working. Arizona will face Baylor at Hillenbrand in a best-of-three starting on Thursday or Friday.
“We look like a different team right now,” said UA coach Mike Candrea. “We went from a bunch of bashers to the short game again. That’s kinda what happens in postseason.”
The lone home run came from leadoff hitter Mandie Perez, a senior who had only hit four home runs on the season coming into the weekend, then hit two in three games, including a shot to right field on Sunday that scored two runs in the third inning. She added a two-run double in the sixth inning for good measure.
“I just felt like ‘finally,’” Perez said. “I’d been relying on a lot of my slapping and I’m not somebody that is looked to have a home run like that, so I was just really happy.”
Sunday, Katiyana Mauga and Jessie Harper combined to go 0 for 6. That would be Arizona’s two leading home run hitters.
On the flipside, at the bottom of the order Reyna Carranco, Ashleigh Hughes and Eva Watson combined to go 8 for 9, and none of those were extra base hits.
“That’s pretty good,” Candrea said, with a smile. “We can win a lot of games that way.”
Hughes is now hitting a team-best .385, and Carranco has been Arizona’s leading hitter since Pac-12 play began on March 18.
“I just think the bottom of the lineup, we’re doing what we need to do now,” Carranco said.
All told, Arizona scored those 11 runs on 15 hits, their most since April 7. Both Carranco and Hughes hit RBI singles in the sixth inning, Carranco added another RBI in seventh, Dejah Mulipola hit an RBI single of her own and reserve Nancy Bowling managed to drive in a run on a sacrifice fly for Arizona’s final score.
“Their slappers and short game is really what won the games for them,” said South Carolina coach Beverly Smith. “Their slappers were tough outs. Their speed game puts pressure on you.
“It’s the constant pressure Arizona’s offense puts on that makes them tough.”
In the circle, Arizona was able to get ace Danielle O’Toole some rest after sophomore Taylor McQuillin (16-3) pitched a shutout.
Now Arizona moves onto No. 15 seed Baylor, who the Wildcats beat 4-0 at the Hillenbrand Invitational in February.
The Bears are fresh off sweeping their own regional, which included a dominant performance from pitcher Gia Rodoni, who pitched two no-hitters in three games.
If Arizona can win two of three games against Baylor, it would advance to its first Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City since 2010.
“I think we have all the pieces and all we gotta do is go out and perform,” Candrea said. “This weekend they (Arizona) performed and the thing I was just ecstatic about is the way we created runs.
Added Perez: “I just feel every single person in Tucson right now has our back.”
