Arizona catcher Dejah Mulipola sported a soft cast on her left hand, a product of catching Gina Snyder screwballs with more pop than usual Saturday.
Mulipola said she’ll be fine for the Wildcat Invitational this weekend, but Snyder’s dominant performance last week in an exhibition against the Japanese national team in Palm Springs, California, further complicated coach Mike Candrea’s conundrum in the circle.
As the No. 12 Wildcats (9-5) return home to face Drake, the precursor for a five-game weekend featuring contests against No. 19 James Madison and No. 23 Minnesota, Candrea is searching for a rotation.
Six is too many.
Taylor McQuillin is the ace — Candrea is sure of that, saying “she’s earned that opportunity.” But behind her, there’s more of a mystery.
Louisiana Lafayette transfer Alyssa Denham, last year’s No. 2, was roughed up by Long Beach State last weekend, giving up three runs in four innings. Underclassmen Vanessa Foreman, Marissa Schuld and Hanah Bowen have been stellar, allowing a combined two earned runs over 17 innings with 16 strikeouts.
Gina Snyder
Then there’s Snyder: Her 1-0 win over Japan, the 2017 World Cup of Softball champion, isn’t included in the season statistics, but it can’t be ignored. She allowed four hits and one walk with five strikeouts in a complete-game shutout. Even though Snyder became the first collegiate pitcher in 11 games to beat Japan, much less shut them out, Candrea seemed to pump the brakes.
“Japan is not known for their hitting,” he said. “They’re a team that relies on solid defense and good pitching, but she did a heck of a job. For someone that has been biting at the bit to get an opportunity, to be ready when that opportunity was given to her, I’m very happy for her.”
Having so many pitchers to choose from is a good problem, especially for the Wildcats, who have struggled offensively. Take away Arizona’s four run-rule victories — over Illinois State, Illinois-Chicago, New Mexico and UC Santa Barbara — and the Wildcats are averaging 3.3 runs per game. Counting only players with more than 10 at-bats, the Wildcats have no one hitting above .400 and four players hitting sub-.200.
“We know we can do it,” Mulipola said. “It’s just taking the pressure off of us and putting it on the defense.”
Until that happens, the pitchers have little margin for error, and Candrea has an obligation to explore every option.
“It’s very hard to get enough innings for six pitchers, but we’re going to do our best to mix and match and utilize them all,” he said. “They all have something they bring to the table, and you never know throughout the year what’s going to change. You’ll see a lot more used this weekend I hope, and we’ll continue to do that as long as we can.”
That means Snyder, a fifth-year senior out of Sahuaro High School, is likely to be back in the circle. Once again, she will try to make the most of her opportunity.
“I definitely was on cloud nine the whole game,” Snyder said. “I’m ready for anything.”
