'Feisty, relentless' Wildcats walk off ASU; top seed UCLA next in Pac-12 quarterfinals

Arizona looked to be in a deep hole after spotting ASU four runs on a grand slam in the first inning.

But then, in the blink of an eye, all aspects came together for the Wildcats.

UA ace Devyn Netz hunkered down to strike out eight batters and allowed only three hits and no runs the rest of the way.

Right fielder Tayler Biehl threw a strike to Izzy Pacho at home plate to end ASU’s threat in the fourth inning.

Carlie Scupin crushed two doubles and a single, driving in five runs.

And Allie Skaggs hit the game-ending grand slam as the Wildcats crushed the Sun Devils 13-4 in five innings in a come-from-behind victory in the play-in game of the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament at Hillenbrand Stadium Wednesday night.

The No. 8 seed Wildcats advance to face No. 1 UCLA at 4 p.m. Thursday. All four quarterfinal games on Thursday will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.

“Fighters, man, they’re just fighters, and I think you’ve seen them get stronger and stronger throughout the year and just not care about deficits,” Arizona coach Caitlin Lowe said about her players.

“And it’s kind of what softball is these days anyway — just chipping away and going to work. Their goal was one (run) an inning, and they were able to put some bigger numbers on the board. But when they come out like that on fire, they just spread the energy one through nine, and they didn’t have any doubt they were going to do it.”

Netz ended up getting out of that first inning by striking out three batters. In the top of the fifth, she also got three straight batters out — enticing a fly ball to center field and striking out the last two.

“As a pitcher, you have to think it’s one bad pitch, not four runs scoring,” Netz said of the first-inning grand slam by the Sun Devils’ Jazmine Hill. “It’s that it was one bad pitch, it was the first (inning), you have a lot of time to use your offense. …

“I know I had good movement after those three strikeouts, and I thought, ‘You know what, if I just keep spinning the ball and doing my thing out there, I know my offense will come back and score.’”

And score they did. The Wildcats were disciplined at the plate and got big hits after taking starting pitcher Kylee Magee late into the pitch count — a total of 13 three-ball counts.

UA knocked Magee out of the game in that big eight-run fifth inning after she walked five, striking out four, allowed seven hits and gave up eight runs (seven earned) on 128 total pitches — a career high. She also had four wild pitches.

Scupin was in midseason form after breaking her forearm and being out of commission — surgery and rehab — for over a month. She went 3 for 4 – two doubles in the second and fourth innings and a single in the fifth.

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“She was just a presence of force,” Lowe said. “I think all of our spirits get better when she’s around and she’s in the lineup, on the field. I was really proud of her tonight for hitting (with) two strikes because usually she’s not as comfortable in that situation.

“What’s different about her is she’s getting the extra-base hits again, we’re seeing (her hit) stronger. (When she came back) I think her grip strength right away when she got the cast off wasn’t there. She was getting frustrated in batting practice. Every single day she gets stronger. It used to be harder to take some pitches because of the arm, but now you can see her strength is back. I think she felt really good when she hit her home run last weekend. Just knowing that it was there.”

Skaggs, who earlier in the day won Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, reminded people that she can hit too. She went 2 for 3 and crushed the grand slam in the fifth.

“That’s one thing I’ve been waiting for,” Skaggs said. “I mean, those moments are what we play for, right? (I’m) obviously very proud of my defense, but the offense hasn’t gone away either. That was one of my favorite moments here so far.”

Skaggs added that she was down in the count but didn’t change her swing.

“Anything near the plate, I was swinging at it,” she said.

“I also knew we were up by like five at the time and bases loaded and we have nothing to lose if I take a hack. That’s what I was looking to do. I said, ‘Hey, if I open the gap right now, we might be able to win.’ That obviously happened, but yeah, just anything near the zone I was looking for.”

Looking to Thursday’s game against UCLA, one of the best teams in the country, the Wildcats believe they are ready to go toe to toe with the Bruins. After losing all three games to UCLA in the middle of April, the Wildcats want “to take back our house in a way,” Netz said.

After this dramatic win, it’s back to work in less than 24 hours. Lowe’s message to her team was that this game “shows that if we take care of ourselves, then we can beat anybody.”

“It’s just carrying that momentum, but really having the same types of plans at the plate,” Lowe said. “Being feisty, and they were relentless tonight. I love that word for them because they just enforced their will on a team, and it’s just cool to see how much fire they have.”

Extra bases

Freshmen Logan Cole and Kaiah Altmeyer also drove in runs. Altmeyer started in center field for Jasmine Perezchia, who’s day to day with a leg injury.

Former UA coach Mike Candrea threw out the first pitch — a strike — to catcher Izzy Pacho. Later in the game he joined the Pac-12 Networks broadcast for an interview.