Hansen's Top Teams, No. 51: Over eight days in 2007, Taryne Mowatt became a UA softball legend

Facing Tennessee’s Monica Abbott in the 2007 Women’s College World Series was a lot like facing the four or five most dominating pitchers in NCAA softball history: Jennie Finch, Cat Osterman, Lisa Fernandez and Alicia Hollowell.

The odds of beating Abbott twice in two days were somewhere between hopeless and insurmountable.

The 6-foot, 2-inch lefty was 50-3 when she stood on the mound in a best-of-three championship series against Arizona. She had already beaten Arizona 1-0 and 3-0 in Oklahoma City. Abbott would conclude the year with still-standing NCAA records in wins (189) and strikeouts (2,440).

A year earlier, Arizona eliminated Abbott and the Vols from the WCWS when Hollowell, 32-5 with an 0.89 ERA, out-pitched Abbott in the semifinals. But in ’07 Hollowell had graduated and Abbott was the No. 1 story in women’s college softball.

Until she wasn’t.

Until Arizona’s virtually unheralded junior Taryne Mowatt became the No. 1 story.

Mowatt had been Hollowell’s backup for two years. She wasn’t even the Pac-10’s leading pitcher in ’07. That was Washington’s Danielle Lawrie.

But over eight days in Oklahoma City, Mowatt won six games, throwing every inning (1,035 pitches), competing under the most difficult circumstances possible: winning five elimination games, including a stunning 1-0 and 5-0 sweep of Tennessee to win the national championship.

Mowatt wasn’t a power pitcher. She baffled the Vols by mixing up her pitches, using a change-up that so stymied Tennessee’s offense that Vols coach Ralph Weekly said “I’ve never seen anything like that style of pitching. She never showed us a pattern the whole time.’’

Taryne Mowatt pitches against Tennessee in the 2007 WCWS. The ace won five elimination games for the Wildcats to help coach Mike Candrea to his eighth and final national championship.
James S. Wood, Arizona Daily Star 2007

It wasn’t just Mowatt’s versatility, it was her endurance and toughness. The grind of pitching eight complete games in six days — all with unending pressure — was unprecedented at the WCWS.

She told the Star’s Patrick Finley “I haven’t had a good night rest for two nights. I’d just lay in bed and ache.’’

UA coach Mike Candrea was so impressed that he said his eighth national championship — which was also his last — “was by far the most memorable College World Series that I’ve been through in a long time.’’

Mowatt had gone 8-1 as a freshman and 21-5 as a sophomore while backup up Hollowell, a consensus All-American who set Arizona career records for wins and strikeouts. Many of Mowatt’s contributions in her sophomore year were as a designated hitter, of all things.

The Wildcats entered the ’07 season with two All-Americans, centerfielder Caitlin Lowe and shortstop Kristie Fox, but otherwise didn’t seem to measure up to Candrea’s seven national champions in pitching strength.

Mowatt changed all that.

Some had regarded her as the nation’s No. 1 high school pitching prospect after the 2004 season at Santiago High School in Corona, California, but she had to wait until Hollowell graduated to show her pitching chops.

In the penultimate game in OKC, Mowatt shut out Tennessee 1-0 in 10 innings to even the best-of-three series at 1-1. A day later, she beat Abbott again, 5-0, relying on a 4-for-4 day by Lowe, a four-time consensus All-American, a two-run single by Jenae Leles and a three-run home run by second baseman Chelsie Mesa.

Arizona, WCWS, 2007 — Arizona’s Chelsie Mesa tags out Tennessee’s Lindsay Schutzler at second base in the third inning of a WCWS game in 2007. Mesa would hit a three-run homer in the final game in the Wildcats’ 4-0 victory to clinch the title.
Ty Russell, 2007

It was the most runs Abbott had given up in a game all season.

Arizona’s starting lineup in 2006 included catcher Calista Balko of Canyon del Oro High School and swift outfielder Adrienne Action of Marana High School. The Wildcats won the Pac-10 with a 15-3 record.

There would be no repeat in 2008. Candrea took a leave of absence to coach Team USA in the Beijing Olympics, in which Abbott was one of his key pitchers. Team USA won a silver medal. Arizona finished third in the Pac-10 and was eliminated in the first two games of the World Series, losing to UCLA and Alabama.

Mowatt went from 42 victories to 29, but her legacy in UA softball history remains secure.