As they prepared for one of the biggest series of their season, the Arizona Wildcats heard a story about geese.
Each goose in a “V” formation helps the one behind it, cutting down on wind resistance and lowering the energy needed to fly. As a result, a flock of geese can fly more than 70 percent longer than one goose can by itself.
And when the lead goose gets tired, it retreats into the wings and a new leader moves up up front.
That was the metaphor Arizona coach Mike Candrea presented to his team prior to last weekend’s games against No. 8 Arizona State. The geese — err, Wildcats — took two of three games against the Sun Devils. They’ll host Oregon State in a three-game series starting Friday night.
Candrea said he was “going through some stuff” when he stumbled upon the goose story, which he had used before. He presented his players with a printed copy of the metaphor, and then read through it. Things began to click into place. By the time Candrea finished the story, his players started honking.
“So, it kind of gave us a little pump up, something to laugh about, something to bring into the weekend,” outfielder Carli Campbell said. “It was pretty funny.”
And when Alyssa Palomino slammed the go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning of Game 3 against ASU, the dugout erupted in honks.
“People in the crowd were probably like, ‘What the heck were they doing?’,” Campbell said. “People at ASU were even looking at us … but we, as a team, knew what it was.”
The wins in Tempe switched things for the 10th-ranked Wildcats, who had struggled on the road against the Pac-12’s best teams.
“Well, it shows that it only takes one game to flip things around,” pitcher Alyssa Denham said. “You can go loss, loss, loss and then have a really good game. And then your whole season is turned right back around in the direction you want it to go.”
Outfielder Aleah Craighton said she didn’t believe it was so much as finding the right mentality as it was getting the key hits needed to take down the Sun Devils.
“You have to figure out every person and figure out how they work the best,” Craighton said. “And once everyone figures that out with all nine people on the field, then that’s when everyone can be the best player they can be.”
The Arizona State series capped the tough portion of conference play. The Wildcats have played ranked opponents each of the last five weekends, four of which were ranked in the top-10 nationally. Utility player Ivy Davis said she doesn’t believe the heavy schedule has tired the Wildcats out; in fact, it may have invigorated them.
“Especially after those wins, I think that pumped us up for the rest of the season,” Davis said. “I think we’re just going to push through and finish off strong.”
Arizona has three series left on its schedule — after playing Oregon State, it’ll host Grand Canyon and then travel to Stanford. The three opponents are a combined 72-65 this season.
“You don’t look past anybody,” Denham said. “Anybody can sneak up and get you, but I think that we’re going to be strong. We struggled, but now we’re through it.”
Inside pitch
- Senior Ashleigh Hughes has a broken right hand, and
- is out indefinitely. She jammed a finger on her right hand when making a hard slide against Arizona State. The injury isn’t the first for Hughes; a dog almost bit off her right thumb two summers ago. Candrea said he still expects Hughes to come back in some capacity before the season is over. “I don’t know exactly when, but I think she’ll be doing something for us, whether it’s playing in the outfield or running bases,” Candrea said.
