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.
1999: Decade ends with early exit from WCWS
What went down: Arizona ended the 1990s with an uncharacteristically short stay at the Women’s World Series.
The Wildcats opened with a 3-0 win over Cal, but then lost the next two to Washington (3-0) and DePaul (1-0) and were eliminated.
Arizona hit .308 during the season, but struggled in Oklahoma City. The team had just eight hits over three games, finishing with a .121 batting average.
UA ace and All-American Becky Lemke (29-8) shut out Cal and pitched well against DePaul, giving up two hits, striking out six and walking none. But one hit was too much for the Wildcats to overcome.
DePaul scored in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Julie Luna ripped a line-drive double off the left-field wall, driving in the only run.
The Wildcats entered the WCWS ranked No. 2 nationally. They finished with a record of 53-16 — their most losses since 1991, when they won the program’s first national championship. Their bid for a ninth consecutive appearance in the WCWS finals ended on a strikeout.
From the archives: The Star’s Edward de la Fuente wrote that Arizona couldn’t get going in Oklahoma City:
Yesterday, the Wildcats weren’t squandering opportunities; they just weren’t generating chances at all. Against DePaul pitcher Liza Brown (22-8), they managed just two hits and did not advance a runner against second base.
And worst of all for the Wildcats, their slap hitters weren’t slapping. Like everyone else, they were hitting fly balls, as 15 of their 21 outs were through the air. Three others were by strikeout, and all three ground-ball outs were bunt attempts.
Arizona hitters had trouble laying off Brown’s riseball, failing to correct the problem that doomed the Wildcat offense in its 3-0 loss to Washington Friday.
“We had a difficult time making those adjustments at the plate,” Candrea said. “We tried to, but (Brown) was throwing in an area where it was very tempting to swing at, and we couldn’t get on top of the darn thing.”
He said it: “First of all, this was a young team. Second, there was no leadership. A lot of them had more important roles all of a sudden, and sometimes those roles swarmed them. They were awed by the aura of Arizona softball.” — Candrea
After OKC: Freshman Jennie Finch went 24-8 with a 2.08 ERA, earning All-America honors. She gave up only three hits and one run in three starts during the NCAA Regionals.
Finch’s first trip to the WCWS didn’t go well: She surrendered three runs in 3ª innings against Washington.
Better days were ahead for Finch. She went 29-2 as a sophomore, throwing three no-hitters, starting the season with a 21 consecutive wins and after back-to-back loses — her only losses — finished the year with eight more wins. She would go on to win 60 straight games over three years.
The big number: 2. The 1999 season marked just the second time in the decade that the Wildcats didn’t play in the championship game. The other time came in 1990, when they were eliminated after two games.
