After playing three multi-day tournaments, and closing out the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic with a shutout win against fourth-ranked Oklahoma, the Arizona Wildcats are bunkering down for the first three-game series of the season.
No. 9-ranked UA and Texas will play Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All three games will be aired on the Longhorn Network.
Coach Mike Candrea said the team is ready to play a true road series.
βItβs definitely a homefield (advantage) for (the) University of Texas and youβve got to go in there, youβve got to play your game and youβve got to shut down the crowd as quick as you can,β Candrea said.
Arizona (13-1) enters the weekend series riding a 12-game winning streak. And ace Taylor McQuillin has served as the driving force to the teamβs success.
McQuillin has thrown five shutouts, including one no-hitter and four consecutive one-hitters, in her last six starts. Over the last 48 innings, McQuillin has given up 13 hits; her opponents are batting a collective .063.
McQuillin, who was named ESPNW Player of the Week and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for her efforts in last weekβs Mary Nutter Classic, said her approach will change in a true road series.
βObviously, mentality shifts a little bit because instead of playing a different team every day or a different team every game, now youβre going to playing the same team three days in a row,β McQuillin said. βSo, by the third day, they kind of know who you are and know whatβs going on. Youβre nothing special to them anymore.β
Candrea said he couldnβt have foreseen McQuillinβs early success this season, although he hoped for it. He said sheβs starting to look like the top prospect he recruited out of high school.
βShe just looks like sheβs locked in, and I think the big thing, that I see, is the confidence,β Candrea said. βItβs extremely high right now, and the key is to keep it there. Itβs not a sprint, itβs a marathon.β
The Wildcats swept the Longhorns last year when Texas visited. The UA has won 14 of the 20 matchups against Texas all-time.
