There's no ceiling for Arizona softball's speedy Regan Shockey

As far as Arizona softball head coach Caitlin Lowe is concerned, the sky’s the limit for sophomore utility Regan Shockey.

“She’ll never talk about herself,” Lowe said. “I just don’t think she has a ceiling, so I’m always out here and she’s always out here trying to get better. I think it’s a sign of great players, so yeah, I think she’s had a great year.

“Do I think there’s more in the tank? Absolutely,” she added. “I always do because she’s just a phenomenal athlete and I think the sky’s the limit.”

Last season, Shockey hit .411, had an on-base percentage of .435 and stole eight bases. This year she is hitting .400, has a .414 on-base percentage and has stolen 17 bases.

She’s third in the Big 12 in batting, second in runs (48), second in hits (70) and fifth in steals.

When asked about her rise in stolen bases, she praised teammates like junior utility Kaiah Altmeyer and senior pitcher/infielder Devyn Netz.

“I just think that honestly, my teammates have put me in positions to get more steals like that because I have such depth behind me with Kaiah, Dev,” Shockey said. “I would say they kind of help me a lot, getting in a good position to make those steals, especially with like, say Dev up to bat, they’re gonna pitch a lot more off speeds, something to throw her off, so I think she gives me a bigger opportunity to take those bases.”

No. 13 Arizona (40-10, 14-7) closes out the regular season with its first-ever trip to the University of Houston (22-21, 4-15) for a three-game series this weekend.

Shockey was on the Pac-12 All-Defensive and All-Freshman teams last season. She started every game at center field last year and so far every game in center this season.

Last week at San Diego State, Shockey robbed a home run in the Wildcats’ 1-0 win.

“Incredible game-saving catch on Friday, just beautiful rhythm and timing and put us in a place to win on Friday, cause that game could have ended up very differently,” Lowe said. “I think she gets a lot of credit for her offense, but in the end, she still runs a lot on defense so proud of her. And then, just the leadership, I think she’s growing slowly but surely in that category and I hope she takes that head on because I think she’s really good with it.”

Shockey said the key to robbing a home run is preparation.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“I would say it just really emphasizes on how important your pregame is and how serious you take those live reads you take before and BP and just truly locking in before the game even starts and like practicing those plays before game time,” Shockey said. “So when you come in at game time, it’s more a natural feeling.”

Lowe knows a thing or two about playing center field, she was an All-American four years in college and she’s in the UA’s record book’s top 10 on 12 different occasions, including most career stolen bases.

When asked what it’s like to play center for Lowe, Shockey said she gets asked it a lot and it changes every time.

“I just think before it was like ‘oh, like I have to live up to that,’ but now I think it’s more like she is the same every day and so are we and I think it’s a lot less pressure, but it’s more confident,” Shockey said. “She instills a lot of confidence in us and she has a lot of trust in us, which I just feel confident playing for her and we’re grateful that she’s our outfield coach or our coach in general.”

Lowe said playing center at this level is fun.

“It’s really fun at places like San Diego State because they feel like they have such a big outfield, we were 225 in the gaps, more space to run, the ball hangs more, it’s not this stadium where the ball is just out of here,” Lowe said. “So it’s a whole lot of fun and I talked to them a lot about patrolling and I think our outfield does such a great job of patrolling and they’re always on the offensive and not just reacting to things.”

She said playing outfield is about how you work as a unit and has been impressed with how junior left fielder Dakota Kennedy, Shockey, Altmeyer, senior right fielder Paige Dimler and sophomore right fielder Zaedi Tagalog have played this year.

“They’re working to be one step ahead every play that happens and I think that’s what makes great outfielders and I think more than even just center field is the way the outfield can work as a unit, I think that’s when you have a really high level outfield is that, ‘OK, there’s three of us, how are we gonna cover everything?’” Lowe said. “Kai and Ko and Ra, they work so well together, Paige when she’s out there is, Z when she’s out there, but yeah, they just work so well together at like ‘I’m positioning myself, I know what kind of hitter I’m facing, according to the pitch, what am I gonna do?’ and they’re at their best when they’re thinking kind of tactically that way.”

Extra bases

— Arizona is 4-0 against Houston all time, beating the Cougars in 2015 at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif., and then sweeping a three-game home series in 2016.

— The Wildcats remained No. 13 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll and stayed 12th in the NFCA Coaches Poll after their split at San Diego State. UA is No. 11 in the NCAA’s RPI while Houston is No. 81.