Editor’s note: This story appears in Sunday’s special section honoring retiring UA softball coach Mike Candrea.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The promise has been fulfilled and the streak remains.
UA softball players begin their careers under coach Mike Candrea with the long-standing notion they will compete for a national championship each year.
After three straight seasons in which more than half the squad fell short of winning it all at the Women’s College World Series, the top-ranked Wildcats and their eight seniors finally claimed the national title Monday with a 1-0 win over UCLA.
After pitcher Jennie Finch got Toria Auelua to strike out looking to end the game before 4,459 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, Candrea watched his team’s celebration from inside the dugout.
“You want every kid to have that opportunity to feel how great it feels to win a game like that in such a big moment in their life,” said Candrea, who has led the UA to six titles in his 16 seasons as coach.
“The highlight of the weekend was sitting in the dugout watching them celebrate. That’s the picture that I keep in the back of my mind every day I go to practice and every day I work with a kid.”
After the regular season, senior center fielder Lauren Bauer said that deep down she would feel like the class was a failure if it didn’t win a title. Until Monday, the UA’s last win was in 1997, the year before the current senior class arrived.
Catcher Lindsey Collins echoed that sentiment after Monday’s win.
“We felt bad. Nobody wanted to go out as losers,” she said. “That’s what makes this so special. Us eight girls have probably been the hardest on coach to get along with and be with because there’s so many of us.”
The title ensures that each class Candrea brought in from 1987 to 2001 has left with a national championship to its credit.
Arizona coach Mike Candrea is showered with water after winning the 2001 Women's College World Series title in Oklahoma City.
“Every year we’re supposed to win. We had good teams all three years,” senior third baseman Toni Mascarenas said. “Right after the game we looked at each other and kept jumping up and down by ourselves. We didn’t even run to each other. We didn’t know what to do. There’s nothing sweeter than right now.”
The Wildcats (65-4) went up 1-0 in the fourth inning when Collins smacked Amanda Freed’s curveball into the bleachers in right-center. Collins finished with three career CWS homers.
Collins’ blast was her 11th of the season and the UA’s NCAA-record 126th. During the regular season, the Cats broke the record of 100 set by the 1995 UA club.
The Bruins (62-6) outhit the Cats 4-3 and had eight base runners, but only two advanced to second base. The top five batters in the Bruins’ order went a combined 1 for 13.
Finch was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player. She struck out seven and walked two while posting her 19th shutout of the season. At 32-0, she holds the best record in NCAA history without a loss. Olympian Lisa Fernandez, a former Bruin who is now one of UCLA’s assistant coaches, went 29-0 in 1992.
Freed fanned six and walked four.
“We could not support her in doing the little things,” UCLA coach Sue Enquist said. “We needed to get the bunt down. We had our key hitters up. I got the feeling we were going to bust out and get it done. I felt so good about it, and it didn’t happen.”
Arizona moved to 6-2 in national championship games. The Cats ended the year on a 26-game winning streak.
