OKLAHOMA CITY — Mike Candrea first saw Tucson native Carlie Scupin at one of his camps when she was a girl.
Candrea liked what he saw. For one, her bat speed was Jenny Dalton-Hill-like. Nobody since the Wildcats’ 1996 national player of the year has been as quick to the ball.
As Scupin grew older, Candrea kept an eye on her.
He liked that “she hit good pitching better than she had bad pitching. That was another big plus,” Candrea said. “But, you know, it didn’t take long for me to realize that we wanted her in a Wildcat uniform because she’s big, she’s strong. She’s very athletic for her size. I think is a will be a very, very good hitter for a long time here.”
As a true freshman, Scupin has started all 52 games at first base. She’s hitting .354 with nine home runs and 37 RBIs, and boasts a .984 fielding percentage. The Tucson High graduate was recently named to the Pac-12’s all-freshman team.
On Saturday, Scupin’s single to right field drove in two insurance runs as the Wildcats swept Arkansas in the Fayetteville Super Regional to claim a spot in the Women’s College World Series. The Wildcats open play in the double-elimination tournament on Thursday against Alabama.
How Scupin got the hit is a testament to her maturity as a hitter.
“They were going to a certain sequence — they were going inside and outside. I had two strikes and I was expecting something,” Scupin said. “I just told myself that I got to get my hands through and get that inside pitch. … It was definitely cool to get that hit.”
Candrea would like to see Scupin refine her swing during the offseason, incorporating her bottom half more. When she can do that, Candrea said, Scupin “can be scary” as a hitter.
In a way, she already is.
“In the beginning of the year she put a few balls on the Gittings Building back there (behind Rita Hillenbrand Stadium) and I was blown away,” teammate Jessie Harper said. “I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. Where did this girl come from?’”
One island
The Wildcats say they’re closer as a team now than they have been all season. They’re comparison their trip to Oklahoma City to being on “one island” together.
“This year we’ve kind of all been on 21 separate islands and playing that way,” sixth-year senior Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza said. “We said, ‘we’re on one island and we need to be on one island and play together as one team.’ We definitely bought into that and being able to say, ‘OK, I’m not playing, I’m on this island with whoever’s putting in the circle or if I’m in center, I’m in a circle with whoever is pitching and I’m with all my fielders and we’re on one island together.’ It’s not just our pitcher in a circle and then all of us are surrounding her.
“I think that’s something that has definitely brought us all together, and knowing that we each have a role and we’re going to play that role — no matter what it is. We’re going to be on an island together and we’re going to go out together.”
Alabama's Montana Fouts is one of the hardest-throwing pitchers in college softball.
Mulipola honored
Arizona’s Dejah Mulipola has been named an NFCA First-Team All-American and the Division I Catcher of the Year, the organization announced Wednesday.
The pitcher she’ll face in Thursday’s Women’s College World Series opener, Alabama ace Montana Fouts, was a unanimous choice for the first team. Bailey Hemphill, Fouts’ Crimson Tide teammate and battery-mate, made the first team as an at-large player.
Mulipola was the only Wildcat to make the first team. Pac-12 rival UCLA landed four players on the 18-member squad.
Widely viewed as the best collegiate catcher in the country, Mulipola is hitting a career-high .401 with 21 home runs, 63 RBIs and a career-high .906 slugging percentage. Defensively, she’s part of a UA unit that’s on pace to post the best fielding percentage mark in program history.
Muipola is one of four UA players honored by the NFCA: Harper, pitcher Alyssa Denham and outfielder Janelle Meoño were named third-team All-Americans.
Alabama’s Montana
Fouts is 25-3 with a 1.49 ERA and boasts a fastball that routinely registers in the low 70s, making her one of college softball hardest throwers. To hit the Alabama ace, the Wildcats must simplify their approach.
“We have to really make sure that we’re starting a little earlier than we’re used to, and making sure that we’re getting our front foot down in time, and then swing at good pitches,” Candrea said. “I mean, it’s a complicated puzzle, but truthfully at this stage of the game that’s really what you’re trying to do is trying to simplify the game. You’ve got to get on time, you got to swing on a good pitch.”
It’s not just the fastball, either. Candrea praised Fouts’ ability to “tunnel’ the ball — keeping the same release point regardless of what pitch she’s throwing.
“That’s going to be the challenge having some good competitive bats,” he said. “If we’re seeing the ball well then we’ll be fine.”
If Arizona faces the Tide’s No. 2 pitcher, Lexi Kilfoyl, the Wildcats try not to chase her rise balls out of the zone.
“That’s easier said than done,” Candrea said. “ … The key for us is to lay off the ball up in the zone.”
Byrne and ’Bama
So far, there have been no friendly bets made between the schools’ athletic directors. Alabama is led by Greg Byrne, who served as the UA’s AD before being hired back to the Southeastern Conference four years ago. Byrne hired many of the Wildcats’ top young coaches, including Adia Barnes, Jay Johnson and Tony Amato, the soccer coach who left last week for Florida.
Byrne and Candrea were coach during the AD’s time in Tucson. Byrne’s replacement, Dave Heeke, awarded Candrea a five-year extension and significant raise shortly after starting at the UA in 2017.
Limiting distractions
Candrea called the Women’s College World Series “a business trip … it’s not a vacation.”
The Wildcats will be kept busy practicing and playing. There won’t be time to be distracted by friends, family — or the upcoming Olympics.
“We have a routine that we go through and a lot of it is team oriented,” Candrea said. “We get up in the morning we have breakfast together. Normally, if we were playing at night I will have a session around 10 o’clock or 11 o’clock to get them out of the hotel to go hit somewhere for about 30 or 40 minutes. I think that routine is really important for them.
“I’m very excited that Oklahoma City is going to be wide open and it’s going to be packed. But we have to protect our bubbles still. There are just some things right now that we wouldn’t want to happen to us at this stage. I’m going to be very particular about … kids going out with their parents probably aren’t going to happen here, right now. I think most of the stuff we’re going to make sure that we are doing in our bubble and trying to keep as many people out of our bubble as we can to protect our athletes. A hug and a kiss, I’m all for. … I think parents will understand that and I think the kids understand that.”
