Editor’s note: For more than three decades, the UA has been one of college softball’s best teams, making 23 Women’s College World Series appearances and winning eight national championships. The Star is reliving each of the WCWS trips.
1991: Fourth time is a charm; Wildcats win their first national championship
What went down: Arizona crushed UCLA all three times they faced off in the last three weeks of the season, and then came through when it counted the most. The Wildcats defeated the Bruins 5-1 in the Women’s College World Series national championship game, giving the program its first national championship.
The Bruins’ lone run came off a solo shot by Lisa Fernandez, who would go on to win three Olympic gold medals.
UA ace Debby Day was voted the unofficial MVP by the media. She won four WCWS games, allowing one run on 15 hits over 32 innings. She struck out eight and walked five as the Wildcats finished the season 56-16.
The Wildcats played four extra-inning games on the way to the title game, all of them finishing with a 1-0 score. Their lone loss, to Fresno State, ended a streak where the Wildcats held their opponents scoreless in 45 consecutive innings.
Good baserunning helped Arizona advance to the title game. In the eighth inning, Stacy Redondo came home on a bouncer to second by Julie Jones. The throw was close, but Redondo went to the outside and touched home plate under the tag.
Four Wildcats — Day, Jones, Julie Standering and Kristin Gauthier — were named to the all-tournament team.
From the archives: The Star’s Anthony Gimino wrote that Arizona won in the same style that got them to the finals — with stifling pitching, solid defense and timely hits. He added:
Day (30-8) threw a four-hitter, striking out one and walking two as her teammates played errorless ball.
Jones, a left-hander, came to the plate in the third with two outs and the bases loaded. She hit a drive to right-center off Heather Compton (22-4), who entered the game with an ERA of 0.20, the best in the nation.
The ball fell between the outfielders, and two runs scored. Kristen Gauthier was thrown out at the plate, and Jones was credited with a triple, Arizona’s only extra base hit of the WCWS.
“She puts us on the board, and I think that developed a lot of confidence throughout the whole lineup,” Candrea said.
Arizona scored two more runs in the fourth, chasing Compton, and another in the fifth.
“This was our weekend,” Candrea said. “I’ve been saying it all week. You couldn’t play any better than we did the last couple of weeks.”
He said it: “Those last three outs were the toughest three outs you’d ever want to go through. … Two national championships in junior college were great, but this is the greatest feeling in the world. It’s nice to be No. 1. It’s nice to say you are the best.” — Candrea
After OKC: Standering’s defense at shortstop was key to this title. She still holds the single-season record (230 in 1988) and career (767) record for assists. In the 1991 season she helped the team to a .970 team fielding percentage.
Julie Standering
Standering was three-time All-Pac-10 selection, an All-American pick, and was a two-time member of the all-Women’s College World Series team. She would go on to found Julie Standerling’s Minnesota Fast Pitch Academy and is a member of the Arizona Athletics Hall of Fame.
The big number: 1. The 1991 Wildcats were the first UA women’s team to win a national title. The number took on a different meaning for the superstitious Candrea. The coach who carried lucky pennies, wore lucky uniforms and ate lucky ice cream cakes now had a new superstition — receipts.
“This is strange,” Candrea said at the postgame news conference, as he pulled several crumbled papers out of his pocket. “I got a Whataburger receipt the other night, and they were giving out No. 265 and No. 286. When mine came out it was No. 1.
“I’ve got all these things with No. 1 on them.”
