College softball was a different game in 1993, so different that when Mike Canderaβs Arizona club won the Womenβs College World Series, it got one hit.
Soak that one in. To beat No. 1 UCLA in the title game of the 1993 WCWS, the Wildcats did so with a first-inning single by freshman Leah OβBrien. Final: Arizona 1, UCLA 0.
That was college softball in 1993, the so-called βdead ballββ era. Arizona scored just 303 runs that season. A year later, when the NCAA put some juice in the softball, the Wildcats scored 527. Arizona went from 36 homers in 1993 to 96 a year later.
It reflects on the resourcefulness of Candrea, who won 1991 and 1993 national championships with pitching, defense and base-running, and then added six more NCAA titles over the next 14 years when home runs ruled the sport.
The β93 Wildcats went 44-8, their fewest victories in any year from 1988 to 2007. A year later, Arizona won 64. But it didnβt matter on Memorial Day, 1993, when Arizona chopped down the UCLA softball dynasty behind the pitching of sophomore Susie Parra.
The gameβs lone run came in the first inning when Amy Chellevold reached base on an error and scored on OβBrienβs single off the gameβs most feared pitcher, UCLAβs Lisa Fernandez, who entered the game with a 33-2 record.
Parra, who finished 28-3, allowed two hits and struck out six. In five WCWS games, Parra pitched 39 innings, striking out 51, allowing just one earned run.
A year earlier, UCLA beat Arizona in the championship game. And in the 1993 regular season, the No. 1 Bruins won three of four against the Wildcats. UCLA was 50-4 entering the championship game.
Candrea said his team had more motivation than just being the underdog.
βLast year we didnβt go to the World Series hungry, trying to prove ourselves,ββ Candrea said. βWhat a difference a year makes. When you get your face rubbed in the dirt, you get that drive again. Thatβs the most important thing to have.ββ
Arizonaβs 1993 season was special. It was the debut of Hillenbrand Stadium, then the leading on-campus softball facility in college softball. Hillenbrand seated just 1,000 then β it now seats close to 3,000 β but it became a valuable recruiting tool, especially when it came to acquiring the top prospects from Southern California.
Arizonaβs 1993 lineup included three All-Pac-10 players who canceled visits to UCLA after visiting Tucson: freshman second baseman Jennie Dalton of Valencia, Calif; sophomore shortstop Laura Espinoza of Wilmington, Calif.; and freshman first baseman/outfielder Leah OβBrien of Chino, Calif.
Susie Parra threw 39 dominant innings in the 1993 WCWS to lead UA to the title.
All-conference outfielder Jamie Heggen and All-American first baseman Chellevold were from Thousand Oaks, Calif.
To get to the World Series, Arizona first had to beat rival ASU in a best-of-three regional series in Tucson. The Wildcats swept the series, after which Candrea said βwe expected to win these two games.ββ
No kidding. Arizona, which finished second to UCLA in the Pac-10, placed seven players on the first-team all-conference team: Chellevold, Dalton, Espinoza, Heggen, OβBrien, Parra and Jody Miller-Pruitt. Only Heggen and Miller-Pruitt were seniors.
Arizona opened the 1993 season 21-0 and was ranked No. 1 in the regular season for the first time, although it was later overcome by UCLA. But Candrea was so intent on beating the Bruins and winning his second national title that he pledged to shave his head if the Wildcats won it all.
Indeed, a few minutes after hoisting the championship trophy, Candrea sat on a folding chair at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium as his players took turn shaving his head.
βI like the bald look,ββ Candrea told reporters. βMaybe we can do this again.ββ
