The No. 24-ranked Arizona softball team bounced back from losing the doubleheader opener Saturday to rout host Utah 8-0 in the nightcap in Salt Lake City.
More importantly, Wildcats leadoff hitter Janelle Meoño was back in the lineup for the first time since early March.
After entering Utah's 5-3 win in the first game as a pinch hitter, Meoño started the second game with a single and scored in the inning to make it 1-0 on an Izzy Pacho RBI groundout.
Meoño finished 2 for 3 in the win, and Sharlize Palacios and Carlie Scupin both homered to back Devyn Netz (12-5), who went the distance in the two-hit shutout.
UA (26-16, 5-12 Pac-12) scored twice in the first inning and twice in the third. Scupin's solo homer in the sixth made it 5-0, and Palacios went deep an inning later to make it 6-0.
Palacios went 3 for 4 in the win, while Pacho drove in three runs, including an RBI triple for the final run of the night.
In the opener, Pacho hit a two-run homer in the first inning, but the Wildcats' offense struggled after that.
The opener started almost two hours late due to more rain a day after Friday’s scheduled game was washed out.
Julia Jimenez hit a three-run triple for Utah (22-21, 5-9) in the fifth to snap a 2-2 tie.
Meoño, who had missed almost two months with a foot injury, was 1 for 2, and drove in a run with a single in the seventh to cut Utah's lead to 5-3.
Hanah Bowen took the loss, allowing three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.
The teams will play in the rubber game of the series at noon Sunday.
