Editorโs note: For more than three decades, the UA has been one of college softballโs best teams, making 23 Womenโs College World Series appearances and winning eight national championships. The Star is re-living each of the WCWS trips.
2003: UA eliminated in semifinals, losing twice to Cal in one day
What went down: Arizona ran into Cal in the WCWS for the second straight year. And for the second straight year the Golden Bears ended UAโs season. This time in was in the semifinals, as the Wildcats lost twice in one day โ 2-1 in 12 innings and then 4-1 โ to their Pac-10 rival.
Arizona (56-7) didnโt advance to the championship for the first time in three years, and suffered back-to-back losses at the WCWS for the first time since 1989. In 16 WCWS appearances through 2003, the Wildcats were 45-20.
Cal had beaten UA 6-0 in the title game in 2002. Arizona was the No. 1 seed in the 2003 tournament, and beat Alabama and Washington to advance to the semis.
Freshman ace Alicia Hollowell (40-5) was on fire, striking out 13 batters in each of the first two games. She picked up a UA single-season record for strikeouts with 394. Sheโd best that mark in each of her next three seasons. Her 508 strikeouts in 2004 โ the only year she didnโt play in the WCWS โ was her career-high.
UA catcher #52 Mackenzie Vandergeest, (cq, Mackenzie Vandergeest), is getting ready to catch a ball thrown to her as Cal player #13 LeAnna Hoglen, (cq, LeAnna Hoglen) trys to win the game on this play at the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning to keep the Cats alive. This was a relay throw as a result of a missed fly ball in the outfield. She was out on this play. Photo was taken on May 25, 2003 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Photo by Benjie Sanders. Assign.#101440.
It was a long day for Hollowell against No. 7-seeded Cal. The first game ended on a single down the third-base line in the 12th. She struck out 16, walked eight and gave up eight hits. In the nightcap, Hollowel only struck out three, walked eight more and gave up four hits. Veronica Nelsonโs home run was the big hit in the second game for Cal.
UA batted only .179 in Oklahoma City, going 12 for 67. After hitting 70 home runs for the year, the power hitting was shut down. The Wildcats didnโt hit a home run during the series โ their last came in the regionals against Texas A&M on Lovie Jungโs 25th of the year. She finished the season with a 1.022 slugging percentage and a .461 batting average. Both are still UA records.
Jung ended up batting .583 in the WCWS, yet even she couldnโt connect against Cal โ going 1 for 6 in her final at-bats as a Wildcat.
Two Wildcats made the all-tournament team โ Hollowell and Jung. Cal went on to lose to UCLA 1-0 in the championship game.
From the archives: The Starโs Kristen Davis wrote that in the fifth inning of Game 2, Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea changed up his strategy on Calโs best player, Nelson, and decided to pitch to her instead of walking her.
This ended up the wrong move at the wrong time. She wrote:
The UA walked the senior seven times โ including six intentional free passes โ in Sundayโs two games. But tied at 1 in the fifth with one out and a runner on first base, the UA elected to pitch to Nelson, the NCAA career walk leader with 392.
Nelson hit Alicia Hollowellโs 1-1 pitch over the fence in left-center to put the Bears ahead 3-1.
โI probably rolled the dice thinking we could throw around her,โ said Candrea, whose team swept Cal 3-0 in the regular season. โIt was a touch decision to move the winning run to second base. What we were trying to do is pitch around her. It didnโt quite happen that way.โ
Said Hollowell: โI tried to go up and in and jam her, then go down and out. I just missed my spot.โ
Arizona lost twice to Cal in one day in the 2003 WCWS.
Nelson, who has been walked 104 times this season, said she was a bit surprised the UA chose to pitch to her.
โI just prepared myself and when I saw their catcher get down in the catching position I tried to tell myself to focus, stay on the ball and drive it somewhere,โ said Nelson, whose home run was her 13th of the season and 55th of her career.
He said it: โThis is by far our worst day. To go through our schedule and lose seven games, it really hurts when you arenโt playing on Monday.โ โ Candrea
After OKC: Arizona didnโt make the WCWS in 2004 โ the first time since 1987. Two Wildcats wouldnโt be on the field in 2004 โ Candrea and second-team All-American Courtney Fossatti.
Candrea took the season off to coach the U.S. Olympic team, while Fossatti redshirted after have foot surgery over the summer. UA ended up going 2-2 in the regionals, losing to Oklahoma and then being eliminated by Louisiana-Lafayette.
The big number: 329. The number of pitches Hollowell threw against Cal in back-to-back games in one day. She threw 196 pitches in Game 1, then after a 3 1/2-hour break, came out and threw 133 more.
โI was a little bit fatigued,โ Hollowell said. โBut not enough to use it as an excuse.โ
