Facing in-state rival ASU is always a must-win game for the UA softball team. Coming off a sweep at the hands of UCLA last week made Friday's contest extra important.
However, No. 20-ranked Arizona State played the better game and walked out of Hillenbrand Stadium with a 9-2 win — its 12th consecutive victory — over the No. 14 Wildcats in the opener of this weekend's three-game series.
Yet, there was a silver lining: The Arizona offense showed some life after getting shut out in three straight games in Los Angeles by the Bruins.
“The fight from the hitting (was the biggest takeaway),” Arizona coach Caitlin Lowe said. “I think you saw at UCLA a lot of blank faces and we came out here and we controlled the barrels. We probably could have put way more runs if (Arizona State) didn’t make some good plays.
"I was very impressed with that and happy to see that fight. I’m just ready for the fight to catch fire from offense to defense.”
Last week, the Wildcats opened up conference play by managing just five total hits over three games. Starting conference play with Pac-12-leading teams the likes of UCLA, Arizona State and Washington was going to be a tall order regardless, and scoring just two runs in the first four games has put the Wildcats (19-8, 0-4) in a hole already in conference play.
UA will look for more improvement when the teams meet at 5 p.m. Saturday in a game that will air on the Pac-12 Network.
“I think the biggest thing for us, which I think we’ve done a good job of, is staying together as a team,” said sophomore Carlie Scupin, who accounted for both of UA's runs Friday with a two-run homer. “I think just getting our confidence back and making sure we’re all kind of on the same page — making sure our defense is on when our pitching is on and our hitting is on. Just syncing it up.”
Still, Arizona needs to produce long-term solutions for its hitting problem. On Friday, the Wildcats managed only seven hits against the Sun Devils (23-5, 4-0). Arizona also struggled with errors, committing four throughout the night.
With how the game got started, it was clear this would be a tough game for Arizona.
Senior pitcher Hanah Bowen got the start, and then proceeded to throw 44 pitches in the first inning alone. After walking one batter and getting a second on base with a hit by pitch, Bowen got a visit in the circle. But that was then followed by a second walk to fill the bases.
Luckily for Bowen, she minimized the damage to two runs in the first inning, but was eventually lifted after two innings.
The start came after Bowen was unavailable for the Wildcats in last week’s series at UCLA, due to a car accident. It was the second time this month the senior was unavailable for Arizona.
“She’s had a rough month,” Lowe said.
In total, the Wildcats went through three pitchers as they struggled to stop the Sun Devils.
Arizona State went on to make a late-game pitching change, bringing former Wildcat Marissa Schuld into the circle. It was the first time Schuld, who left Arizona following the 2020 season and sat out last year due to in-conference transfer rules, faced her former teammates.
Both of Arizona’s runs came from Scupin's homer in the third inning to cut the lead to 3-2 and end the team's 24-inning scoreless streak. However, the Wildcats will need to find more ways to score if they hope to still win the series.
“I think, tonight, all of our hitters did a really good job of making adjustments and we all gained a little bit of confidence tonight, but we need to pick it up for (Saturday),” Scupin said.
