Alyssa Denham told her freshman catcher “Let’s end this with a bang” before stepping into the circle with history on the line.
A few minutes later the senior, in her third season at Arizona after transferring from Louisiana-Lafayette, struck out Taylor Rowland to seal a no-hitter in Sunday’s 6-0 victory over Long Beach State. It was the second of Denham’s career, following last year’s three-walk performance at Oregon State.
This one included one walk and one hit-by-pitch, both in the first two innings, with seven strikeouts and 16-straight retired batters to finish it off. Each went the full seven innings, often not the case in a sport filled with five-inning run rules.
Denham became the first Wildcat to accomplish that feat — multiple seven-inning no-hitters — since Taryne Mowatt, and is just one of five UA pitchers to do so in the last two decades. That list also includes Jenny Finch, Becky Lemke and Alicia Hollowell.
“I really realized it in the sixth or seventh inning where I was like, ‘We’ve got to shut this down right now,’” Denham said. “I don’t think they ever get old. Every time I pitch I’m going to try to get another one.”
Denham remained composed throughout, an important development in her maturation into becoming Arizona’s top pitcher.
Her training wheels, having Taylor McQuillin as the ace the previous two years, are gone. That’s why it was so important to have a good result against feisty Long Beach State, which had beat No. 2 Oklahoma. Denham needed to show resolve after being pulled Saturday night in No. 4 Arizona’s first loss.
“She did great against Oklahoma, but going forward, we’re going to need her to throw full games like that,” Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza said. “She’s a year older. She’s a senior. She knows what she has to do. Being a No. 1 pitcher now instead of a No. 2, I think she was dialed in today.”
Maybe the early run support was enough to quiet her nerves.
Jessie Harper and Ivy Davis delivered back-to-back singles to give the Wildcats a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Palomino-Cardoza kept up her hot streak, ripping an RBI double down the right-field line in the fourth, and catcher Sharlize Palacios blasted her first career home run in the fifth.
Still, coach Mike Candrea was a little underwhelmed with his players’ decision-making at the plate.
Up 2-0 in the count in the second inning with Palomino-Cardoza on first base, Harper swung at a pitch well out of the zone, popping it up in foul territory for the final out. Candrea stared at his senior slugger as she made her way to the dugout.
“I expect a lot out of our mature hitters,” Candrea said. “It was just one of those weekends. We had some bad at bats.”
There will be little room for error as Arizona (9-1) welcomes the USA Olympic team to Tucson Tuesday, which is set for a 7 p.m. first pitch.
Inside pitch
• Pitcher Mariah Lopez tied a career high with 13 strikeouts in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Bryant. She recorded five more strikeouts in the nightcap against Oklahoma, throwing a total of 154 pitches on the day.
• Arizona had an attendance of 3,006 for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma, its largest home crowd since 2004 and its fifth largest of all-time.
