It wasn’t long ago that four-time All-American Caitlin Lowe stood on the outfield grass in Oklahoma City playing as a member of a Wildcats Women’s College World Series team.
“It felt so grand back then. The stadium felt so big and larger than life,” Lowe, the Wildcats’ first-year coach, said Wednesday ahead of her team’s series opener against Oklahoma State.
Lowe won back-to-back national titles with the Wildcats in 2006 and 2007, then returned twice more as a UA assistant. She has seen the evolution of the sport’s pinnacle event.
It turns out, the charm of the WCWS hasn’t lost its luster since her playing days.
“You look at it now with the triple deck (seating) and it’s just a whole different vibe. It gets better and better every year,” Lowe said. “To be a part of the growth of softball has been so cool.”
Once a mainstay in the Women’s College World Series over multiple decades, the Wildcats went from 2012-2018 without getting past the Super Regional. As softball grew in popularity and talent, so too did parity across conferences.
Arizona has since evolved, too and is now making a third consecutive trip to Oklahoma City. But how it got here this season — as is the case with several others in the field of eight — is a testament that you no longer have to be the top dog in today’s softball era to make a postseason run.
In 2007, Lowe’s senior year, seven of the eight teams that made the WCWS were seeded in the top 10 in the country; four of the eight won at least 50 games.
Led by an all-star cast that included Lowe, as well as now-UA assistant Taryne Mowatt-McKinney, No. 1 Arizona went on to beat No. 5 Tennessee in a best-of-three series for the national title.
Fifteen years later, there are as many unseeded teams left (Oregon State, Texas and Arizona) as there are teams ranked in the top 10 (No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 5 UCLA and No. 7 Oklahoma State).
This year’s unusual field isn’t an outlier, either. A year ago, unseeded James Madison made its first-ever WCWS appearance. The Dukes stunned No. 1 seed Oklahoma 4-3 in the opening game.
The Wildcats’ path to their 25th Women’s College World Series appearance has been long and winding. Patience has been required and now the results are showing.
“Eighteen individuals kind of go through the role of their own seasons, their own struggles, their own triumphs,” Lowe said. “It’s special for me to see that growth throughout the year and for them to play some good team softball at the right time.”
Skaggs plays ‘cat-and-mouse’ game, earns key award
Arizona’s Allie Skaggs, the co-leader in Pac-12 home runs during the regular season with 22, recalled her memorable back-and-forth battle with Washington’s Baylee Klinger for the home run crown.
“She’s my favorite player,” Skaggs said of the UW power hitter. “It was cracking me up when she would go ahead one then I would catch up. Then I’d go up and she’d catch me.”
The battle went down to the final weekend of the regular season. Skaggs went deep in the third-to-last game of the year to tie Klinger atop the leaderboard.
“A little cat-and-mouse chase,” Skaggs said with a laugh.
The Arizona second basemen has hit two more home runs in postseason play. Ahead of the WCWS, Skaggs was named an All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).
“She’s just steady. She’s always been consistent for us,” Lowe said.
Candrea to be in attendance for WCWS
When the Wildcats punched their ticket to Oklahoma City with a Super Regional win over Mississippi State, there was lots of celebrating to do.
Videos posted by the team Twitter account showed the players jumping into their hotel pool while still wearing their uniforms and yelling “O-K-C” as they splashed down. Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke also dove in.
As the Wildcats celebrated, former coach Mike Candrea sent out congratulatory texts to Lowe and a number of players.
“It was a good text,” Lowe said. “He’s been very supportive every step of the way.”
Lowe said Candrea will travel for the team’s WCWS games this weekend.
“He booked a trip out here and he’s very excited,” she said.
