Newest 'Hillenbrand Bomber' Malia Martinez helps Arizona Wildcats stand alone

Malia Martinez is known in the Arizona Wildcats’ dugout as quiet and studious. The easygoing third baseman is letting her bat do the talking.

Martinez is the newest member of the “Hillenbrand Bombers,” joining the slugging trio of Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza, Dejah Mulipola and Jessie Harper.

Eighth-ranked Arizona (32-7) is the only school in the country with four players who have hit 10 or more home runs. No other team has more than two.

Harper leads the NCAA with 21 homers, while Mulipola has hit 16 and Palomino-Cardoza has 13. Martinez hit her eighth, ninth and 10th homers last week.

The Wildcats’ five junior position players — Martinez, Harper, Palomino-Cardoza, Mulipola and Reyna Carranco — have hit a combined 64 home runs.

“I think they’re all such amazing players and, looking at my class, I definitely have learned so much from them individually and have become friends with all of them, too,” Martinez said.

Arizona’s hot bats have led the Wildcats on a 14-game winning streak, including four Pac-12 sweeps. They will take a break from conference play this weekend, when they travel to Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon in a three-game series.

A doubleheader Friday marks the Wildcats’ first trip to GCU. The Lopes have played at Hillenbrand Stadium for all seven of the teams’ previous series.

Martinez has improved from last season, when she hit .262 with four home runs and 23 RBIs, in part because of work with coach Mike Candrea and her teammates. Martinez is hitting .372 with 41 RBIs this season; she’s already walked 15 times, one more than all of last year.

“It’s like, when you’re surrounded by good players, you’re going to get better,” Martinez said. “I think, definitely, just being in college and learning from everyone. Just having that year of experience under my belt and implementing that.”

The San Diego native picked up softball at a young age, when her older sister Li’ana first started playing. A typical younger sister, Martinez wanted to emulate her sister in everything.

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Martinez’s mother, Dacia, began coaching both her daughters at a young age. Because Martinez’s father was in the Navy, Dacia and her daughters spent a lot of time together.

“My dad wasn’t really around a lot because he was always deployed, so it was always just my mom, sister and I — our dynamic for the most time,” Martinez said.

Martinez starred at Poway High School in Southern California. When it came time to choose a college, she chose Arizona over UCLA.

Arizona was the first campus Martinez visited, and she made the trip with future Wildcats teammate Hillary Edior. Knowing she had at least one friend on the roster helped Martinez feel even more welcome.

“Arizona is such an incredible school and I think just really the coaching staff here, in my opinion, you can’t get better than that,” Martinez said. “And the school itself is so amazing and beautiful.”

On Monday, Martinez was named the College Sports Madness national player of the week. In five games against UTEP and Utah, Martinez hit .556 with three home runs and 18 RBIs.

With the success she and her team has been having, there’s nothing the Wildcats can’t do, Martinez said.

“I know that’s cheesy. I have so much faith in this team and I think we have such a great mentality. We all mesh really well, so I have nothing but faith.”

Inside pitch

• Fox Sports Arizona will host the inaugural “Baseball Day Arizona” on Saturday. The 24 hours of baseball and softball programming will be highlighted by three live game broadcasts featuring Arizona teams — including the Wildcats-GCU softball game.
• The tripleheader will start with the high school game between Tempe Corona del Sol and Phoenix Desert Vista, followed by Arizona at Grand Canyon. At 5 p.m., the Diamondbacks take on the San Diego Padres. Barry Buetel will call the UA-GCU softball game, with two-time UA softball All-American Kenzie Fowler serving as the game analyst.