OKLAHOMA CITY — Nick Candrea was smiling from ear to ear as he took in his surroundings Thursday.
Candrea had the best seats in the house — a few rows behind the Arizona dugout on the first-base side — thanks to his younger brother, Mike, who happens to coach the Wildcats.
Thursday marked Nick Candrea’s first trip to the Women’s College World Series in his brother’s 24 appearances.
“Maybe he didn’t like me that much,” Nick joked, “because he never invited me.”
In reality, spring is Nick Candrea’s busy season — just like it is with his brother. Candrea coaches his own softball team at Paradise Valley Community College. He’s been at the helm for 16 years after retiring from teaching and coaching at Phoenix Washington High School. He coached football and golf and baseball — he’s a 2008 inductee into the Arizona Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame — before switching to softball. It was Mike Candrea who urged him to switch sports.
“I love it,” Nick Candrea, who turns 74 at the end of the month, said. “My brother gave me some really good words of wisdom. He said, ‘You need to remember this: Girls have to feel good to play good; guys have to play good to feel good.’”
Nick Candrea also helps his brother out at his summer camps. Even though Mike Candrea has won eight national championships, Nick — a typical big brother — said he thinks he’s a better coach. The difference: Mike Candrea’s “got the players, but he’s unbelievable,” Nick Candrea said.
The brothers have a player in common. Douglas native Erika Tapia helped Paradise Valley reach the 2013 playoffs, the junior college program’s first-ever postseason appearance. She hit a league-leading .542, had 77 hits and drove in 44 runs. She then transferred to the UA, where she played nine games for Mike Candrea in 2014.
Nick Candrea says his brother is “the best softball coach in the world” because he’s a great motivator and is loyal to his student-athletes. “He loves them as if they were his own daughters,” he said.
As Nick Candrea looks towards Saturday’s matchup with Florida State, he wants the Wildcats to “go out there, relax, have fun; try to be as good as they can be.”
And for those rumors that Mike Candrea is hanging up his cleats at the end of the World Series? Nick took his fingers up to his face to indicate his lips were sealed.
“When it does happen, he’ll go out the way it’s supposed to be,” he said.
Keeping it local
Most of the Arizona fans who saw the Wildcats play Alabama on Thursday in Oklahoma City had a long trek.
One fan simply hopped in her car and drove across town. A native Tucsonan, Corine Martinez moved to Oklahoma for college and never left. She attended Thursday’s opener against Alabama wearing a navy blue UA T-shirt and cap.
“I like the greenery; I do miss the mountains (in Tucson),” Martinez said.
Now, the Women’s College World Series is circled on her calendar every year. She began attending games before there were stands in the outfield. Now, USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium has an upper deck.
“It’s come a long ways,” Martinez said. “(The atmosphere) is awesome. Everybody gets together, has a good time and cheers for their team. They come from all over and it’s an excellent time to meet new friends.”
Martinez is impressed with this year’s squad and thinks what stands out is their determination.
“They believe in each other, and the coach believes in them. They came to win, bottom line,” she said.
Arizona shortstop Jessie Harper cuts the ball off following a hit to the outfield during Thursday's loss to Alabama. The Wildcats' senior helped the team get a shoutout in Sunday's Indianapolis 500.
UA and IndyCar
Arizona’s softball program get a shoutout on national TV before the Indianapolis 500 last Sunday.
Colton Herta, one of the new sensations in the IndyCar series, is UA shortstop Jessie Harper‘s best friend. Their families live next door to each other on the same cul-de-sac in Stevenson Ranch, California, and take vacations together.
“It’s a revolving door; we’re always at one person’s house — we’re like family,” Harper said. “During COVID, we had outside gatherings. Colton and I went to Michael’s and got chalk, and we chalked a pickleball court because we’re playing pickleball all the time out front. Our doors are always open. His little brother who is 12 — he plays baseball — … would bring his glove over to my house (and) say, ‘Jessie, can you go play catch with me?’”
Herta, 21, took home the title at the 2019 IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas in Austin. He has also won at Laguna Seca in California.
Herta finished 16th in Sunday’s Indy 500, and wasn’t too happy. He was in the top three most of the way until his car ran into some issues.
Racing is in Herta’s blood. His dad, Bryan, was a driver. Colton started racing go-karts at age 4. While Harper’s parents wouldn’t let her join in, she has watched from the sidelines throughout his career.
She sees the similarities in the two sports.
“With racing, you’ve got to be brave — you’re going around 230 miles an hour all around that oval. It’s dangerous, it’s not easy, but I just think that it’s such an endurance sport that people don’t really realize it can be mentally exhausting if you’re not doing your best,” Harper said. “That’s the same thing with softball. If I’m making errors or not doing good, performing the way I want to, I’m going to get mental. (It’s) keeping that same never get your highs too high and your lows too low, that type of thing.”
Herta and Harper work out together in the offseason, mostly lifting weights. And then there are the Wiffle ball contests.
“He loves playing Wiffle ball out in the cul-de-sac — thinks that he can hit it farther than me,” Harper said. “He tries going out there and out-hit me. He loves the hitting aspect because he knows that I’m a power hitter. … I don’t need to pick up a Wiffle ball. It was actually hard for me because I try way too hard. For Wiffle ball, you need to be relaxed. I try to hit it so hard; it doesn’t work out very well.”
