It was a true Senior Day at the ballpark Sunday.
Rita Hillenbrand Stadium was nearly a full house as the fans cheered on the Arizona softball team’s senior class of seven for the very last time in its regional-winning 12-6 victory over Ole Miss.
The season started out with no fans, then families, eventually up to 30% of capacity, then finally 50% and a few days before the NCAA Regionals, UA was allowed to sell every seat in the house. It was only fitting for a class who has done so much — including leading the Wildcats back to the World Series in 2019 for the first time in nine seasons — and will be sprinkled all over the UA record books.
And the seniors’ story isn’t quite finished yet. After winning the regional in three straight games, the No. 11-seeded Wildcats (39-13) move on to play No. 6-seeded Arkansas (43-9) in the Fayetteville Super Regional starting Friday for a shot at another World Series.
On Friday night, Jessie Harper hit home run No. 90 to join the elite of the elite of home run hitters. Only two players are in front of her on the all-time list: former teammate Kati Mauga (92) and Oklahoma’s Lauren Chamberlain (95).
In Sunday’s clincher, Harper may not have hit the long ball, but she impacted the game in other ways. She drove in three runs including the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. She also caught the final out — a screaming line drive off the bat of Tucson native, the Rebels’ Blaise Biringer.
“I caught that ball and I held on to that ball tight — that ball was not leaving my glove until I could have walked over to (UA) coach (Mike Candrea) and handed to him because that is his ball at the end of the day,” Harper said. “It is a great end to the season, to be able to hand him the ball and give him a big old hug and tell him I love him because that man has really built me into the person and player I am today. And I’m so thankful for him, thankful for my time here at U of A.”
Harper wasn’t the only senior to come up big when it mattered the most in the wild game that lasted three-plus hours.
Mariah Lopez pitched six innings of relief after starter Hanah Bowen spotted Ole Miss a four-run lead in the first inning. Lopez, who had struggled this season with her command, stayed focused and turned in one of her best performances of the season. She was so locked in that she didn’t get rattled in the bottom of the fifth after a lengthy stoppage of play. Lopez went back to work and struck out the batter for the third out.
The crowd’s emotions was something Lopez won’t forget.
“I think we’ve been missing a little bit of that fire — not just for myself but from the fans,” Lopez said. “Obviously with COVID we haven’t had something like that in a really long time. I think it just helped the team fires up … I think it really just shifted the momentum.”Yes, it was a jam, but I think it was supposed to happen that way. …
“ “I think that these are the moments that we dream about as young athletes, and I couldn’t have asked for it to work out better.… it was a very special night.”
“Having the fans there that was, that was an extra element for us and took us to the next level because we’ve been missing that. But I’m glad I’m here as Arizona Wildcat. I’m glad I got to finish my career Rita with that. It was awesome.”
Other seniors contributed to the win with their bats, fielding and leadership. Malia Martinez started off the scoring in the fourth inning with her 11th home run of the season. She hit one over the centerfield wall driving in two-runs. Reyna Carranco tied the game at 6 the next inning with a perfectly-placed single over a drawn-in infield, who was thinking she would slap-hit. Dejah Mulipola clubbed three hits and secured a foul ball near the netting in the seventh for the second out.
The seniors picked up 10 of the UA’s 19 hits and accounted for half of its 12 runs.
The Wildcats have now won seven straight regionals, giving them 31 in program history.
“I’m not going to lie, we knew that from the very beginning. Even woke up to a text from Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza … she was reminiscing of all our times at Rita and how today’s the day we can do this — to have that mentality from the very beginning,” Martinez said. “Of course, we were amped up, but we know what we can do. I’m just so incredibly proud of not only our seniors, our entire team, because that was incredible. … I can’t think of a better way to finish it off here.”
