Owning OKC: Taryne Mowatt had the best week ever in Wildcats' 2007 WCWS run

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 reliving each of the WCWS trips.

2007: Wildcats overcome adversity to claim eighth national title

What went down: The Wildcats won five elimination games, including two in the finals against Tennessee, on the way to their eighth Women’s College Wold Series title. UA won 5-0 win over Tennessee in Game 3 of the best-of-three finals.

UA ace Taryne Mowatt was spectacular throughout the series. In eight games over seven days, Mowatt threw 60 innings (and 1,035 pitches), striking out 76 and earning six wins. Mowatt (42-12) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the series.

Mowatt’s fingers split and bled earlier in the season, an issue that could’ve derailed the Wildcats’ run. During MLB spring training in Tucson, UA talked to trainers for the Chicago White Sox, who recommended using a mixture of pickle powder and rubbing alcohol. It worked, although Mowatt’s finger split open toward the end of the WCWS. She taped it up for the finals, and still found a way to win.

Mowatt opened the WCWS with a two-hit, 15-strikeout performance in a 3-2, extra-inning win over Baylor. Kristie Fox belted the game-winning home run in the ninth.

The Wildcats dropped the next game to ace Monica Abbott and Tennessee, 1-0. Then they rallied, beating DePaul and then Washington — twice — to advance to the finals.

Abbott and the Vols beat the Wildcats 1-0 in Game 1 of the finals.

Facing elimination in Game 2, Arizona walk-on Danielle Rodriguez slid under the tag at home for the game’s only run. The UA won 1-0, setting up a winner-take-all final.

Abbott was in control until the fifth inning, when the Wildcats scored all five of their runs.

Jenae Leles hit a bases-loaded single, driving in two runs, and Chelsie Mesa followed with a three-run homer. It was vindication for Mesa, who started the series 0 for 7 and made an error that cost the Wildcats a game in pool play.

“That just tops it all off,” she said. “It’s a better story to tell my kids – ‘You know, I messed up, but I came back, I hit a home run.’ ”

Four Wildcats — Mowatt, Fox, Leles and Caitlin Lowe — made the all-tournament team.

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From the archives: The Star’s Patrick Finley wrote that this national championship was extra special for one member of the program. He wrote:

And for UA coach Mike Candrea, the way his team overcame adversity – winning five elimination games – made the win that much sweeter.

“For a coach, that’s probably more special to me than anything, the way they went about their business,” he said. “They kept calm, they kept cool, they kept composed, and they believed.”

They believed, in short, because of Mowatt. Mowatt stranded 12 Volunteers on base Wednesday, bringing her two-day total to 26.

She allowed the lead runner to reach base in five straight innings, all but the first and last.

Every time – in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings – the junior let a UT runner reach second base.

Every time, she escaped.

“I’ve seen it happen so many times,” Candrea said. “You get to the point where you get numb with it.”

She said it: “It kinda just feels dead. It’s not really sore anymore. It feels really heavy. I haven’t got a good night’s rest the last two nights because I’d lay in bed, and I’d just ache.” – Mowatt on her arm after pitching the 60 innings in the WCWS

After OKC: Two future Wildcats had interesting connections to the 2007 WCWS.

Center fielder Lauren Schutzler’s sister, Lindsay, played for Tennessee. The soon-to-be freshman was torn as who she was rooting for in the finals. Her parents both attended Arizona for grad school and her dad, Lyndon, was a grad assistant for the baseball’s program’s 1980 national championship team. They all cheered for the Volunteers.

Kenzie Fowler, a UA commit, was in the hospital having multiple life-saving surgeries during the 2007 WCWS. Thoracic outlet syndrome limited the blood flow between her collarbone and rib cage. At the time, doctors weren’t sure if Fowler would play softball again. She did, and would go on to be the 2008 and 2009 Gatorade National Player of the Year before becoming the Wildcats’ ace in 2010.

The big number: 1. Tennessee was the first Southeastern Conference team to make the WCWS finals.