It wasn’t pretty at times, and it certainly didn’t come as easy as the wins Friday and Saturday, but the Arizona softball team completed a sweep over Oregon with an 8-3 victory Sunday at Hillenbrand Stadium.
UA coach Mike Candrea said he hopes the team treats Sundays like championship Sunday and make a statement when the chance presents itself. Instead, he believes the team fell into complacency after winning two consecutive run-rule, shutout games against the Ducks.
“I thought they did a great job Friday and Saturday and I think maybe (Sunday) they thought they were going to be in for a cakewalk, but I’ll promise you, no matter who we play, from here on out, that’s not going to ever be the case,” Candrea said.
“Hopefully they’ll learn from that, but I’m not going to take anything away from the three victories. Sweeps are good in this conference.”
The plan going into Sunday was for Alyssa Denham to get the start and have Taylor McQuillin on stand-by for relief. Denham ended up striking out four, before walking one and allowing two hits in the third inning.
The Ducks ended up scoring two runs on an infield error when the bases were loaded.
Once Denham walked a second batter on four pitches, Candrea decided to implement the backup plan.
“Unfortunately, Denham was just cruising along and then walks the nine hitter on four pitches and boom, boom,” Candrea said. “None of the balls were hit hard, but still. I just kind of felt like she was losing it and made a change.”
In 4 1/3 innings of relief, McQuillin struck out four while giving up six hits and a run.
Prior to Sunday, the Ducks had managed a combined five hits and were denied of any runs in the first two games. In the series finale, Oregon got eight hits on its way to three runs.
McQuillin believes UA let Oregon stay in the game too long.
“They’re a team that, when you keep them in, they’re going to do anything they can,” McQuillin said. “They’re going to fight all the way to the end. They’re not going to give up because they’re down six runs — as no team should.
“They came out, they’re still going to take their cuts, get their at bats and see what they can do to put the pieces together and get some runs across the board.”
Offensively, the Wildcats still had moments of brilliance.
Dejah Mulipola got the scoring started early with an RBI double in the first inning. Then, Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza hit a leadoff home run in the third to tie the game at 2-2.
Later in that frame, Malia Martinez doubled to score Reyna Carranco and help UA go up 3-2.
In the fifth, Oregon pitcher Jordan Dail struggled in the circle. She gave up two singles to Martinez and Izzy Pacho before walking Rylee Pierce to load the bases.
While the Ducks were able to get the next two batters out, Martinez scored during the latter play. Dail went on to walk Palomino-Cardoza, loading the bases once more — and this time the opportunity did not get wasted as Carranco blasted a grand slam to put UA firmly in command.
“I just tried to hit it hard because, two outs, just trying to put it in play,” Carranco said.
Candrea always describes Carranco as a flat-liner — she doesn’t get too high or too low. While sometimes her unresponsive demeanor makes him want to shake her “to see if she’s got a pulse,” Candrea believes it is also Carranco’s biggest asset, especially in high-pressure situations.
And he’d prefer to have someone who stays cool under pressure rather than someone who gets carried away from emotion.
“She’s going to have to be that person because there’s going to be many times this year that Palomino’s going to get walked and it’s going to be in her hands,” Candrea said. “And I feel very comfortable putting it in her hands.”
