FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In a Super Regional game that featured seven home runs, it was the Arizona bats that ousted Arkansas in a 10-4 victory Friday in front of a sold-out crowd at Bogle Park.
The 11th-seeded Wildcats move within one victory of qualifying for their 24th Women's College World Series. Game 2 against the sixth-seeded Razorbacks starts at 2 p.m. Saturday, with a third game — if necessary — slated for Sunday evening. The odds favor Arizona: 81% of the teams that have won Game 1 of the Super Regionals have advanced to play in the WCWS.
The Wildcats finished with 12 hits, five of them going for extra bases. Dejah Mulipola belted two home runs, Jessie Harper inched closer to the top of the all-time NCAA charts and Sharlize Palacios cleared the berm in center field. The Wildcats were in a position to run-rule Arkansas, the Southeastern Conference's regular-season champion, until the Razorbacks scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Arizona got the scoring started early. Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Janelle Meoño hit a leadoff single, and Mulipola delivered a two-run shot off Mary Haff to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Arizona senior outfielder Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza scores during Friday’s NCAA Super Regional win over Arkansas.
“I definitely love inside pitches, that’s a given,” Mulipola said. “She threw me one that was a little bit up and I took it for a ball. Then she came a little bit lower in the zone, but it was still inside, and I swung and the rest was history.”
Wildcats coach Mike Candrea said it was an early momentum-builder.
“I thought her getting us on the board early was huge,” Candrea said. “For where we’re playing and trying to get the crowd out of it a little bit, I thought it was a great at-bat, and a great thing for us to start this game off.”
Arizona tacked on another run in the third after Meoño reached on an error, Mulipola walked, and Palacios sent an RBI single to left field.
Starting pitcher Hanah Bowen didn’t allow a hit until Arkansas left fielder Hannah McEwen got the Razorbacks on the board with a solo shot to lead-off the fourth, and the NCAA’s second leading home-run hitter Braxton Burnside doubled in the next at-bat.
Bowen retired the next three Hogs to end the inning with a 3-1 Wildcat lead. She allowed four runs on four hits over seven innings, striking out eight and walking one.
Muliposa commended Bowen for her performance in the circle, which freed up the Arizona bats.
“She’s lights-out,” Muliposa said. “Her pitches were moving and everything was hitting on all cylinders for her. She did a great job tonight.”
Arizona freshman Carlie Scupin forces out Arkansas outfielder Hannah McEwen during Friday's NCAA Super Regional win over the Razorbacks.
In the fifth, Mulipola reached on a walk, and in the next at-bat Palacios crushed a home run to extend the Arizona lead to 5-1. This prompted Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel to replace Haff, the SEC’s Pitcher of the Year, with Jenna Bloom.
The Wildcats’ bats stayed hot after the pitching change. With runners on second and third, Malia Martinez lined a double to center field, bringing two more runs across the plate.
Arkansas plated another score in the fifth after Aly Manzo went deep, bringing the score to 7-2.
More offensive fireworks took place in the sixth. Reyna Carranco singled to start the Arizona at-bat, and then Wildcat senior slugger Jessie Harper drilled her 91st career home run.
Harper moved up to third in NCAA history in career home runs, trailing former Oklahoma star Lauren Chamberlain (95) and ex-Wildcat Katiyana Mauga (92).
In the following plate appearance, Mulipola blasted another homer to give the Wildcats a 10-2 padding.
The Razorbacks would not go down quietly. Hannah Gammill provided the game’s seventh home run on a two-run shot to bring Hogs within six.
Both teams went scoreless in the seventh, ending the game a 10-4 Arizona win.
Candrea praised his team’s all-around performance.
“It was a good game,” he said. “We hit about everything right. You know, the offense was getting some key hits, we got ahead early, had a good pitching performance, and some good defensive plays.”
