Saturday provided a lesson No. 12 Arizona won’t soon forget.
The first game went smoothly, as Jessie Harper’s towering fly ball caught a perfectly-timed gust of wind to deliver the only runs in a 2-0 victory over No. 23 Minnesota.
Backed up by Harper’s 10th homer of the season, pitcher Taylor McQuillin took advantage of a Golden Golpher base-running miscue — Katelyn Kemetmueller tagged out at home on a hard hit grounder to third — to escape the only nervy moment in an otherwise dominant outing. McQuillin even struck out the side to end the game in style with 10 strikeouts.
But then came the nightcap, and the Wildcats (14-5) had to survive an anxiety-filled 7-6 extra-inning affair against Kent State. The Wildcats pounded the Golden Flashes (6-10) in a 10-0 five-inning run-rule victory Friday, but Saturday the same pitcher, Andrea Scali, held them scoreless early as the Wildcats trailed 4-0 in the third inning.
“I give credit to our team that they came back and won,” coach Mike Candrea said. “It’s hard to play this game when you aren’t in the proper mindset. For some reason, the worst thing that happens is you play that team and you beat them 10-0. Then, you walk out and think it’s going to be a walk in the park.”
After freshman Vanessa Foreman’s rocky first career start, Arizona rallied behind reliever Marissa Schuld, who allowed three hits over the next 3º scoreless innings. She finally cracked in the seventh with a throwing error to load the bases after a dropped line drive by shortstop Jessie Harper.
A 6-4 Arizona lead vanished with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch from reliever Gina Snyder and a sacrifice fly, in which the throw home skipped over catcher Dejah Mulipola’s glove.
“If we make the plays, it doesn’t get to that point, but we didn’t help ourselves,” Candrea said. “But those are learning opportunities. You can’t learn that in practice. You have to get in the game with the crowd in the stands and go through that physically, mentally and emotionally.”
Even though McQuillin retired the Flashes in order in the eighth, and Tamara Statman delivered the walk-off grounder in the bottom of the inning, the Wildcats left Hillenbrand with a bittersweet taste in their mouths.
Beating Minnesota was a step forward, especially with how clinical Arizona operated. To turn around and nearly lose to Kent State was troublesome.
“When our back was against the wall that’s when we really decided to show up and perform tonight, and that was a good reality check for us,” McQuillin said.
Arizona has one more game in the Wildcat Invitational, against No. 19 James Madison at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Candrea said he’ll stick with McQuillin, who has pitched every game against a ranked opponent this season.
“That’s a given,” Candrea said. “We’ve got to put our best foot forward in the circle and defensively to play a game like we did against Minnesota.”
