Editorโs note: For more than three decades, the UA has been one of college softballโs best teams, making 23 Womenโs College World Series appearances and winning eight national championships. The Star is re-living each of the WCWS trips.
2010: UCLA stops Wildcatsโ quest for ninth national title
What went down: Arizona made it back to the championship series, but fell in two straight games to UCLA. The Bruins topped the Wildcats 6-5 in eight innings, then clinched their 11th Womenโs College World Series title with a 15-9 victory.
It would take Arizona nine years to get back to Oklahoma City.
The 2010 season marked the seventh time the UA and UCLA met in the finals but the first time since 2001, when Arizona won it all.
Just getting to the finals was an accomplishment. After dropping its opener to Tennessee 9-0 in five innings, Arizona won four elimination games in less than 30 hours. The Wildcats beat Washington and Hawaii, then topped Tennessee twice.
Freshman ace Kenzie Fowler was the workhorse, throwing 695 pitches in the WCWS. The Canyon del Oro High School graduate finished the season 38-9 and threw more than 4,000 pitches.
Fowler struck out 13 against Hawaii, which led the nation with 158 home runs, and pitched a no-hitter against Tennessee.
UCLAโs Megan Langenfeld won Game 1 of the finals with a walk-off home run in the eighth inning.
The Wildcats led 5-4 in the seventh, but a mental error โ a fly ball that dropped between two UA outfielders โ allowed the Bruins to tie it up.
In the second game, Langenfeld hit a two-run homer early and Arizona couldnโt catch up. The Bruins clubbed a record 19 hits.
Arizonaโs Stacie Chambers hit three home runs against UCLA, two coming in the last game. She hit four in the WCWS to tie Langenfeld and UCLAโs Andrea Harrison for the most home runs in the tournament.
Four Wildcats โ Fowler, KโLee Arredondo, Karissa Buchanan and Brittany Lastrapes โ made the all-tournament team.
From the archives: The Starโs Patrick Finley wrote that after winning four elimination games, the Wildcats didnโt have enough left โ especially after giving away a win in Game 1 of the finals. Fowler, who had a remarkable run, couldnโt make it past the second inning. He added:
The first batter of the second inning, however, was Fowlerโs last. โฆ Rattled and weary from throwing 695 pitches over 33ยบ innings since Saturday morning, Fowler was removed in favor of No. 2 starter Sarah Akamine, who had thrown only three innings in Oklahoma City.
Candrea said Fowler was flexing her troublesome right hand and losing feeling in it.
The Canyon Del Oro High School product said she was โexhausted โฆ mentally and physicallyโ after pitching seven games.
Asked the extent of her injury, she said, โit doesnโt matter now.โ
A tearful Fowler spoke in curt sentences.
โAs a team, we had to fight the whole tournament,โ she said. โIโm not happy with myself. I couldnโt finish it.โ
But Candrea wouldnโt let her blame herself.
โSheโs thrown a bunch,โ he said. โMy God, this young lady has done a miraculous job to get us here. When she canโt feel the ball, itโs time (to come out).โ
UAโs Sarah Akamine stepped in after Kenzie Fowler was taken out in the second inning of the Womenโs College World Series clincher by UCLA.
She said it: In the 2007 WCWS, former UA ace Taryne Mowatt led her squad to the national championship while throwing 1,035 pitches over eight games. Mowatt watched Fowlerโs games on TV and said she knew how the Wildcatsโ ace felt.
โWatching it, I look at her face and I just think โShe is putting on a fabulous mask of how tired she really is,โโ Mowatt said.
After OKC: Fowler, Lastrapes and Lauren Schutzler didnโt have much time to rest. Less than a week later, they traveled to Canton, Ohio, where they trained for the Canadian Open as members of the USA Softball Womenโs Futures National Team. Joining them were former Wildcat Jenea Leles and Tucson native Molly Johnson.
Lastrapes was tired for another reason. She played the second half of the season โ including the WCWS โ with mononucleosis. The left fielder, who finished 13 for 27, slept in the training room between the double headers on Saturday and Sunday.
The big number: 24. The 24 combined runs in the final game was a Womenโs College World Series record. The previous mark was just 12.
