Editor’s note: For more than three decades, the UA has been one of college softball’s best teams, making 23 Women’s College World Series appearances and winning eight national championships. The Star is re-living each of the WCWS trips.
1993: Wildcats bring home second WCWS title
What went down: The two best pitchers in the country — UA’s Susie Parra (28-3) and UCLA’s Lisa Fernandez (33-3) — faced each other in the Women’s College World Series title game, with Arizona winning 1-0 in a softball purist’s delight.
Parra threw 75 pitches in the win, giving up two hits, striking out six and walking two. No Bruin advanced beyond second base. She struck out the side in the seventh inning to clinch Arizona’s second national championship.
Parra went 4-1 in Oklahoma City, pitching 39 innings and giving up one earned run on 17 hits while striking out 51 and walking only six.
Fernandez was nearly as good. UCLA’s ace gave up one hit, one run, walked one and struck out four in the title game. Leah O’Brien’s first-inning single to center delivered the UA’s only run.
The 1993 WCWS was the latest chapter in the Arizona-UCLA rivalry. The Wildcats beat the Bruins for the 1991 title, with UCLA returning the favor in 1992.
UA coach Mike Candrea took a different approach when the teams met for the third straight time, not talking about the Wildcats’ 1991 championship and not wearing the title ring.
“Sometimes having a ring is something kids can get relaxed on. They can say ‘Hey, I’ve got mine,’ ” he said. “I want them to be hungry. I think the less we talk about it, the better we are.”
Arizona finished 44-8. Five Wildcats — Parra, Amy Chellevold, Jody Pruitt, Stacy Redondo and Krista Gomez — were named to the all-tournament team.
From the archives: The Star’s Anthony Gimino wrote that the Wildcats struck first and never looked back:
Chellevold led off the bottom of the first with a slow grounder that shortstop Kristy Howard threw away at first for an error. (Jamie) Heggen’s sacrifice bunt moved her to second, bringing up (Leah) O’Brien.
With two strikes, she was looking to make contact, perhaps advancing the runner.
“She came in low,” O’Brien said. “I like that pitch.”
She lined it just over Fernandez’s head into center field. Chellevold churned around third. The throw came home.
“I knew it was going to be pretty close,” Chellevold said. “I was hoping she wasn’t going to be blocking the plate. I just slid straight through. It wasn’t anything special.”
Special enough to win a title.
Despite not getting another hit, the Wildcats played errorless ball and relied on the battery of Parra and Pruitt.
He said it: “It was just meant to be.” – Candrea
After OKC: Candrea promised the Wildcats that he would shave his head if they won it all. Shortly after the game ended, he paid up.
Heggen, Pruitt, Redondo and Lisa Guisetook turns using an electric shaver on Candrea’s hair, leaving it to fall onto the field.
The big number: 5. After 1993, Arizona was one of just five teams with a winning record in the modern era of the Women’s College World Series. The Wildcats were 15-10.
