In the attempt to be No. 1, Mike Candrea started his No. 2 pitcher in Sundayâs NCAA regional final.
Boom. Home run I.
Boom. Home run II.
Boom. Home run III.
âIt was pretty great,â said Mississippi State catcher Mia Davidson, who hit the second home run. â(Sarai Niu) hit one that hasnât landed yet.â
This wasnât a February freebie against Montana or Cal State Northridge, it was elimination Sunday at Hillenbrand Stadium.
But if thereâs anyone in college softball who has earned trust the last 30 years â anyone whose impulses, gut reactions and sixth sense have stood the test of time â it is Candrea.
He is, after all, the alpha and omega of college softball coaches, John Wooden in shorts, with eight national championships and an Olympic gold medal to back up his decision to keep Arizona ace Taylor McQuillin on the bench at the start of Sundayâs showdown with MSU.
I mean, when Candrea and Mississippi State coach Vann Stuedeman met with NCAA officials last week for a briefing on the weekâs schedule, Stuedeman was intimidated.
âTo me, âwow,ââ she said after Arizona rallied to win Sundayâs regional final 4-3. âWhen he walked in the room it was like âoh, God, I canât sit next to him.ââ
If you want to question Candreaâs decision, thatâs your business. He inserted McQuillin in the bottom of the second inning, trailing 3-2, and after that the Bulldogs had no hits. McQuillin was as lights-out as any of the pitching immortals who stood on the mound at old Rita Hillenbrand Stadium â Susie Parra, Nancy Evans, Jennie Finch, Taryne Mowatt.
Right place, right time, right pitcher.
âCoach has a plan and he knows what heâs doing,â said McQuillin.
Sundayâs game was not one of those easily forgettable afternoons en route to the Super Regionals or Womenâs College World Series when the UA was rolling and barely stopped to recognize the logo on the opposing pitcherâs jersey.
It was labor. Arizona hasnât gone to the World Series since 2010 and last year lost a stunning Super Regional final to Baylor that ended in a flood of tears.
Now Arizona appreciates every step of the journey, and on Sunday, believe it or not, Candrea was moved to tears, as was MSUâs Stuedeman.
Tears are usually reserved for something further down the softball road, but this was a special weekend for both teams at the âRita.â
It was historical.
Rita Hillenbrand Stadium, bless its soul, was for 20 years the Wrigley Field of college softball. In 1993, Arizona paid $1.6 million to become the first NCAA softball team to build what Candrea refers to as an âeye-poppingâ stadium.
Arizona became the envy of college softball and, predictably, SEC schools endowed by endless football riches soon built bigger and better softball stadiums and, finally, so did the University of Nike, Oregon, which has won five of the last six Pac-12 championships and replaced Arizona as the Arizona of West Coast softball.
Sunday was the last game played at the âold Rita.â When Arizona returns to action in February of 2019, it will do so in an $8 million makeover that will actually provide shade and comfort for thousands of UA fans who for years sat through games such as the Arizona-Mississippi State showdown in mega-heat and on hot tin benches.
Even Candrea said he had to run to the bathroom Sunday and stand in line with Joe Fan.
Mississippi Stateâs Stuedeman referred to it as softballâs version of Yankee Stadium and said she was proud âwe were a small part of a big history; itâs very cool.â
Candrea is an emotional guy. Thatâs probably the Italian in him. He dismissed his starting pitching decision with a simple âit didnât quite go as I drew it upâ and then confessed he got emotional in the post-game celebration.
âOld Rita has been good to us,â he said. âOne of the great things about getting older is that you get to live the history, and Iâve been able to do that in this program.â
History? In the 2007 NCAA regionals at Rita, Arizona and Mississippi State met for the first time. It was May 19, 2007, and everything was so different.
The Wildcats beat MSU on a four-hit shutout by Mowatt, and went on to win a second straight national championship.
The UAâs lineup was stocked with star-level players: Caitlin Lowe, Chelsie Mesa, Kristie Fox, Adrienne Acton and Callista Balko.
It seemed like the good times would never end for Arizona softball. No one couldâve guessed it would be the last of Candreaâs eight championships.
How much has changed? Fox is now the head coach at UNLV. Balko is married to a former NFL football player and works as a UA fundraiser. Acton married two-time baseball All-Star J.J. Hardy, now retired. Mesa works in the mortgage business in San Francisco.
But Lowe and Mowatt have returned to the dugout, as Candreaâs two leading assistant coaches, both trying to restore Arizona to its lost glory.
âIt was a wonderful day,â said Candrea. âIt gives you one more week to get to that final goal.â
