Editorโs note: For more than three decades, the UA has been one of college softballโs best teams, making 23 Womenโs College World Series appearances and winning eight national championships. The Star is reliving each of the WCWS trips.
2000: Arizona runs into Oklahoma, finishes third for the third time
What went down: The timely hits dried up and the Wildcats, a favorite to pick up a sixth Womenโs College World Series championship, were stopped in the semifinals by Oklahoma, 1-0.
The Sooners went on to beat UCLA 3-1 for the first of four titles under coach Patty Gasso. Lisa Carey, who eliminated the Wildcats with a deep home run in the semifinals, belted a two-run homer in the title game.
Arizona dropped its WCWS opener to Southern Miss, then beat Cal and upset Washington, setting up a showdown with Oklahoma. The Wildcats needed to beat the Sooners twice in the same day to advance.
Becky Lemke (30-7) pitched a gem โ except for one pitch, a riseball that hung over the plate in the fourth inning. Carey drove it over the left-field wall. Lemke struck out nine and gave up four hits.
Arizona put runners on third base twice, but couldnโt bring them home. In the first inning, UA coach Mike Candrea called for a double steal with Toni Mascarenas on first and Nicole Giordano on third. The throw to second hit Mascarenas in the helmet, but Giordano hesitated at third. Oklahomaโs first baseman picked up the ball and fired home to get Giordano. In sixth inning, Mascarenas grounded out with Lauren Bauer on third.
Arizona (59-9) was ranked second all season and was the No. 2 seed in the tournament, behind Washington.
UAโs Lauren Bauer stretches but canโt catch a home run off the bat of Oklahomaโs Lisa Carey. The blast gave OU a 1-0 lead.
From the archives: The Starโs Terrance Harris wrote that the Wildcats missed opportunities to break the game wide open. He wrote:
Other than those missed chances, Oklahoma left-handed pitcher Jennifer Stewart (33-6) put Arizona in a pop-up and ground-out rut most of the day. Stewart, using her change-up and off-speed pitches, struck out just four in 26 batters and allowed only six hits.
โI think a lot of us went up there guessing a lot,โ said Mascarenas, who was 1 for 3. โOnce our team starts guessing and getting (it) into our heads, I donโt think weโre good hitters. I think weโre better just going up there and swinging at our pitches.โ
She said it: โIt feels terrible and it feels awful. We just couldnโt get that run from third to home. It seemed like we got runners at third all day long, but we couldnโt cross the plate.โ โ Arizonaโs Katie Swan
After OKC: Candrea was optimistic that the Wildcats would return even stronger in 2001. The club returned aces Lemke and Jennie Finch, among others.
โIโve been on the opposite end of the coin and you realize the more you get here just how hard it is to get to that championship game,โ Candrea said. โWe lose three seniors and the rest of this ballclub will be back.
โWeโll use this as a launching pad and try to go through the process again and try to get back here next year.โ
The big number: 14. UCLAโs appearance in the title game marked the 14th straight time a Pac-10 team played for a WCWS championship. The last time a league school missed out was 1986, when Cal State Fullerton beat Texas A&M for the title.
