Caitlin Lowe wants her hitters to be more fearless.
“We need to hunt,” the Wildcats’ first-year coach said. “Watching a lot of video, there were so many strikes down the heart of the plate that we just took. I didn’t think we were anticipating strikes, ready to hunt our pitches. I thought we were more in reaction and defensive mode, which totally isn’t us.
“We should punish people for coming over the heart of the plate.”
The first game of her Lowe’s head-coaching career featured an offensive explosion to the tune of 22 runs, with a 15-run outburst the following day. The Wildcats’ bats cooled off in Saturday’s loss to No. 2 Alabama, and they stayed cold throughout Sunday’s 1-0 victory over New Mexico.
Still, the No. 9 Wildcats (3-1) enter this weekend’s Hillenbrand Invitational with optimism. If they can regain their offensive rhythm against the likes of UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount and No. 16 Kentucky, the lack of firepower at the end of the Candrea Classic will be irrelevant.
“I think the games are going to be competitive, and it’s just going to be another chance for us to play together and get comfortable before the Pac-12 season starts,” Allie Skaggs said.
It will be up to center fielder Janelle Meoño and left fielder Jasmine Perezchica to create that spark.
Perezchica was moved from the No. 9 spot in the lineup to second, just behind Meoño. The two slap-hitters have the ability to cause havoc on the basepaths, infuriating defenses with their speed. But if they are unable to reach base, that limits any potential damage from the power-hitting middle of the lineup.
Perezchica has been taking cues from Meoño, the 2021 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and her best friend. The rise to No. 2 in the lineup came as a little bit of a surprise to Perezchica, but as it’s a similar journey Meoño took to the leadoff spot, Perezchica knows the importance of the role.
“I’ve learned a lot from her,” Perezchica said. “Just learning from her last year really helped me this year. She helps me not try to overthink everything, and she’s a really good player.”
No. 16 Kentucky, Arizona’s Saturday night opponent, lost ace Autumn Humes to graduation. But those Wildcats have plenty of depth in the circle, with six pitchers already seeing action. Then, there’s Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount, small-school traditional pitching powerhouses that feast off unearthed recruiting gems in Southern California. Arizona expects it to be a challenging weekend in the batter’s box.
“They have great pitchers and deep pitching staffs,” Lowe said. “We’re going to see a lot of different looks. When you get to five different games with a lot of different looks pitching-wise, it’s really important to fall back on being yourself and what you bring to the table as a hitter. If you try to think too much about what they’re doing, it’s not going to be helpful.
“That’s the biggest thing that was missing from last weekend is just the trust that whatever they throw to us, we’re going to be able to mash.”
