Allie Skaggs making adjustments at the plate, finding more ways to help Wildcats

Not much seems to faze Allie Skaggs these days.

Whether it’s not getting the same pitches in the zone she got last year, when she crushed 24 home runs, or 30- to 40-degree weather with a chance of rain and wind this weekend in Seattle.

This Louisville, Kentucky, native is comfortable in all these elements.

Well, sort of.

“I always like to brag about my Kentucky roots,” Skaggs said. “I’m never one to try to pack my parka if I don’t have to. I don’t wear (long) sleeves if I don’t have to.

“The hardest part is the hands get cold, so it’s hard to grip the ball. If you get jammed it hurts really bad off the bat.

“I think we’re ready. Our team, I think, has faced every single bit of weather you can imagine, especially this season.”

No. 18 Arizona (20-9, 3-3 Pac-12) takes on No. 9 Washington (22-6, 3-3) and the weather in a weekend series at Husky Softball Stadium starting Friday. The Wildcats are coming off a wild run-producing weekend series against No. 19 Utah where they scored 24 yet were outscored and dropped two games to the Utes.

Meanwhile, Skaggs, drove in five runs on three hits, including a home run and a double, and had five walks.

The junior slugger is facing everyone’s best shot this year. After hitting 24 home runs last season as the co-Pac-12 leader, it’s only natural. Skaggs, ever the student of the game, hasn’t flinched. Instead, Skaggs has adjusted her approach at the plate.

“When you put up 20-plus home runs the year before, people are going to be careful with you,” Arizona coach Caitlin Lowe said. “They just they weren’t as careful last year. She got more pitches. And this year they’re being very careful and pitching around her.

“She’s understanding that even if she takes a strike purposefully, she’s still in a good position. She actually hits better with strikes on her, and it’s something that not a lot of hitters do. But she realizes that when she goes deep in counts and she sees more pitches, she becomes a better hitter. That’s a cool thing. It relaxes you. …

“(I’m) proud of the way she’s worked, especially not feeling good in the beginning of the year and working to this point. She’s done a great job.”

Consider this: Last season Skaggs finished with a .367 batting average, .462 on-base percentage, .729 slugging percentage, 58 runs batted in, 65 hits, four doubles and 44 runs scored.

Skaggs’ stats are still eye-popping, and and it’s not even April. Here’s where Skaggs stands: .388 average, .510 OBP, .775 slugging percentage, 44 RBIs (Pac-12 leader; third in the nation), 31 hits, 10 doubles (Pac-12 leader) and 24 runs scored.

She has even limited her strikeouts to two in the past 16 games after putting up 11 in an eight-game stretch.

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Another stat that is telling on how Skaggs has adjusted is that last year she had a total of 30 walks and right now she has 21 — most in the Pac-12.

“It’s just remembering that they have to bring it into the zone for me, and if they do that, those are the pitches I’m going to pounce on. And if they aren’t going to bring it anywhere near, I don’t need to get myself out,” Skaggs said. “Usually if I’m getting myself out it’s because I’m swinging at bad pitches or I’m swinging at pitches out of the zone.”

It took a while for Skaggs to be confident in knowing that taking pitches and drawing walks can be just as important for her team as hitting the long ball.

On Saturday against Utah, Skaggs trusted her gut, stayed disciplined and drew four walks — the last one being the walk-off walk that gave UA a 10-9 win in nine innings.

“That is my dream scenario come into play — bases loaded, no out(s) and I’m coming up,” Skaggs said. “I knew I would end up doing something, whether that was a sacrifice fly, drawing a walk, hitting a hard ground ball to the infielders, making them make a play at four (home plate). I knew that I had faith in myself to do that. And if I didn’t, Devyn (Netz) was going to do it and then (Izzy) Pacho is going to do it — someone.

“It’s very hard for a team to get out of a bases loaded, no outs with (our) three, four or five (hitters up). I was confident no matter.”

The Wildcats have made a quick adjustment as a team after watching junior first baseman Carlie Scupin get hit by a pitch on her forearm against New Mexico State last Wednesday. She broke it and required surgery early this week. Lowe said surgery went well and Scupin will be traveling with her teammates “as long as the pain allows.” Scupin will be for about six weeks.

At first her teammates didn’t quite know she was hurt as players always run to first base when they get hit by a pitch. When they saw her holding her arm, they got a little nervous.

“I saw her sitting in the dugout and they were taking some extra care of her, and I was like, ‘OK, this might actually be worse than I thought,’ ” Skaggs said. “It just got her in a good spot of the arm — we don’t have a lot of muscle there. Then you start playing in your head like, ‘OK, what happened? Did it break? Is it just going to be a deep bruise? Is she going to be back soon? What’s going on?’

“Now our team has to adjust, to be flexible, and that’s just the name of the game in softball.”

Extra bases

Scupin started the season out on a tear, hitting .347 with nine home runs (tied for third in Pac-12 with Netz), seven doubles, 26 hits and 28 runs batted in. She is second on the team in slugging percentage (.800) only to Netz, who is at .833. Scupin drove in four runs on two home runs against ASU the previous weekend.

Lowe said that Scupin’s reaction to having surgery and having to sit out during the season was the best she could have “imagined.”

“It just became about how she can be the best teammate in this scenario,” Lowe said. “Honestly, I think this is going to do wonders for her. I know it’s gonna kill her a little bit, to not be in the lineup, but sometimes you get so much perspective that you never would have gotten.”