Sometimes freshman Bella Dayton wonders what the heck is going on.
She’s not the only Wildcat.
On the surface, everything seems to be going fine for Arizona’s seventh-ranked softball team, which is 12-3 with several wins over ranked teams. Five regular contributors are batting over .350, and the lineup has hit a total of 20 home runs. Top pitchers Mariah Lopez and Alyssa Denham have a combined for a 1.84 ERA with 107 strikeouts in 98ª innings despite a rigorous schedule.
Look deeper, however, and a troubling trend emerges. The Wildcats held multi-run leads in two of their three losses, the only exception a 3-2 defeat by No. 6 Florida on Friday. (In that game, the Gators scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning).Earlier in that tournament, the Wildcats squandered a five-run lead against Texas A&M, losing 7-6.
“A lot of our energy kind of fades through the game,” Dayton said. “We get so far ahead that we kind of settle, and we’re not able to just pick it back up when times get tough.”
While that’s an easy answer regarding what needs to change, the more difficult question is why that’s happening in marquee games, which should garner the Wildcats’ full attention.
Arizona will get another chance to solve that issue this weekend in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The eighth-ranked Crimson Tide (9-5) draws as many as 4,000 fans to Rhoads Stadium, where it is 5-0 and outscoring opponents 41-8. Arizona will face Alabama at 5 p.m. Friday and again at 3 p.m. Saturday, sandwiched around games against McNeese State and UT-Arlington. The two games against Alabama are on the SEC Network+. Friday’s opener against McNeese State can be streamed at ESPN3.com.
“It’s having that killer instinct to want to put someone away versus just playing with them, and that’s not a good trait to have,” UA coach Mike Candrea said. “You’ve got to walk out here with a belief that you’re better than anyone else. You see teams that have that swagger, and they know they’re going to win, it’s just a matter of how many they’re going to score. That’s the mindset we have to get in.”
UA softball coach Mike Candrea says the Wildcats’ recruiting class has the right combination of on-field ability and intangibles to fit right in.
Candrea, in his 35th season, doesn’t worry about rankings, but he isn’t naïve enough to think his players have the same view.
“They have to go and play hard no matter who we play,” Candrea said. “Nobody puts a number next to you when you’re born. So, what are we making of this number? It means nothing. It’s going out there and executing the game and having a belief that you have what it takes to win. We can’t afford to be thinking about this other stuff.”
Still, for their own mental health, the Wildcats would benefit from winning a hotly-contested, emotional, marquee matchup. Or two.
“I think there is a sense of urgency,” Dayton said. “We just have to play under pressure.”
