Depending on your point of view, Friday night’s softball game between Arizona and Washington was a cat (or dog) fight.
Game 1 went to UW.
Huskies reliever Taran Alvelo entered in the seventh inning and managed a hard-earned save, and third-ranked Washington beat No. 6 Arizona 2-1 at Hillenbrand Stadium. The loss was Arizona’s first at home in almost two months.
“We knew coming in that Washington’s a good team and it was going to be a pitching duel,” coach Mike Candrea said. “We need to match them pitch for pitch. The big thing tonight, we left nine runners on base. We just couldn’t get a key hit when we needed to. But can’t complain about our effort.”
Comparing hits and errors, the game was Arizona’s to win. The Wildcats managed six hits and stayed error-free, while the Huskies won on three hits and committed two errors. Arizona stranded nine batters, compared to Washington’s five.
Washington’s Morganne Flores sent a two-run homer over the center field fence in the third inning, giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
Arizona (40-9, 17-2) threatened in the bottom half of the inning. With Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza at third and Jessie Harper on second, Dejah Mulipola drew a walk to load the bases, but Malia Martinez grounded out to end the inning.
Center fielder Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza can’t reach the ball on a two-run homer by Washington’s Morganne Flores.
Washington starter Gabbie Plain struck out just two batters in 6⅔ innings, but kept the Arizona batters off-balance the entire game. Arizona had six hits, but just one — a Palomino-Cardoza double — went for extra bases.
“With any pitcher, you also play yourself a little bit — and I think that’s what we were doing,” Harper said. “We weren’t letting the ball get deep enough and driving it out of the infield. We had a few key at-bats, we were able to get it together, but we weren’t able to get that quality key hit that we needed to move the runners.
“I’m confident in our hitters still. I definitely think that it was us playing into what she wanted us to hit. We were hitting pitcher’s pitches instead of getting out pitch to hit.”
Arizona’s Taylor McQuillin pitched the complete game, even after getting struck with a line drive. Sami Reynolds’ liner in the fifth inning struck McQuillin in the right kneecap. McQuillin attempted to get the ball for the out at first, but was unsuccessful.
“I’m sure there’s a giant bruise on it, but it happens,” McQuillin said. “It’s part of the game — you take the risk. Leave the pitch right over the plate and it’s going to get hit hard right back at you.”
Arizona second baseman Reyna Carranco moves into position and into the last ray of the day’s light against Washington. The two teams play again today at 1 p.m.
Candrea said the team will have to reset in order to come out fresh Saturday. The Wildcats got a sneak preview of the pitcher they’ll face against the Huskies (40-7, 15-4).
Alvelo, Saturday’s scheduled starter, entered amid a sticky situation in the seventh. Hannah Martinez led off Arizona’s half-inning with a single and advanced to second on Carli Campbell’s groundout. Palomino-Cardoza’s single put runners on first and third. Reyna Carranco popped out and then Harper ripped an RBI single, pulling Arizona to within a run — and prompting Alvelo to enter from the ’pen.
The Washington pitcher struck out Mulipola on three pitches to end the game.
“As you saw at the end of the game, Alvelo is a lot of heat,” Candrea said.
“We just have to make sure that we can get on time, shorten our swings up and not try to match power for power. I think we know what we need to do, it’s just a matter of applying it when we get in the batter’s box. That’s the tough part of the game.”
