The Arizona Wildcats will find out Sunday night whether their body of work is good enough to warrant them hosting NCAA Regionals.
They’d likely feel better about their chances had Saturday gone differently. Stanford’s Hannah Howell ripped a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, and the Cardinal salvaged one game from the ninth-ranked Wildcats with a 2-1 win in California. Arizona had won 11 games in a row before Saturday.
Stanford (24-31 overall, 3-21 Pac-12) scored in the first inning, and again in the final one, to pull off the upset victory.
Arizona finishes the season with a 40-14 overall record, and 13-11 in league play.
The Wildcats scored their lone run on Alyssa Palomino’s fifth-inning home run.
Gina Snyder started on the mound for the Wildcats, and allowed one run on two hits in 4 1/3 innings. The Tucson native struck out three and walked two. Ace Taylor McQuillin took over with the game tied in the fifth inning. She allowed one run on four hits, striking out five. She walked none.
The Wildcats flew home Saturday night; they’ll gather Sunday to watch the NCAA Tournament selection show, which begins at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Senior Ashleigh Hughes said last week that the Wildcats had “a really good chance to host regionals” but was unsure exactly what the future held.
“I’m not too sure about super regionals, but, obviously, we have to go one week at a time,” she said.
Inside pitch
- Arizona’s Jessie Harper, McQuillin and Palomino were all named first-team All-Pac-12 selections on Saturday. Hughes and Dejah Mulipola were named second team, and Reyna Carranco and Alyssa Denham earned third-team honors. Mulipola was also named to the Pac-12’s all-defensive team.
- Arizona State’s Trisha Ford was named Pac-12 coach of the year. Other honors: Rachel Garcia of UCLA was player of the year, Oregon’s Megan Kleist was pitcher of the year, Washington’s Sis Bates was defensive player of the year and UCLA’s Aaliyah Jordan was freshman of the year.
