Arizona softball had almost as many errors as hits on Saturday afternoon in a 1-0 loss at San Diego State.
Wildcat left fielder Dakota Kennedy got two of Arizona’s three hits while the defense committed two errors on the day. The pair of errors in the fifth inning was the difference in the game.
The defensive issues weren’t the only problems for No. 12 Arizona (40-10, 14-7 Big 12). For the second straight day, the Wildcats failed to get much going offensively. On Friday, Devyn Netz got the big hit to score the only run by either team. No one rose to the occasion on Saturday in a game played on a rainy, overcast day in San Diego.
The Wildcats didn’t get their first hit until the top of the fourth inning. Kennedy led off with a single and moved up on a groundout by Regan Shockey. She was still at second base after a strikeout by Kaiah Altmeyer and a popup by Netz.
The Aztecs (30-16, 13-6 MWC) weren’t doing much offensively, but they were having more success against starter Ryan Maddox than their visitors. Not only did they get their first hit in the opening inning, but they followed it up with two walks in the second. SDSU had at least one base runner in each of the 4.1 innings the freshmen threw.
Maddox kept the runners on base while she was on the field. She was finally lifted for Netz after giving up a walk and a single in the fifth. It didn’t help that an error by Altmeyer allowed the leadoff runner to reach third base on the single by SDSU third baseman Angie Yellen.
With two runners in scoring position and just one out, Netz entered the circle. She almost got the Wildcats out of the jam.
Bella Espinoza reached on a fielder’s choice to first base, but Miranda Stoddard went home to get Shannon Cunningham trying to score. Arizona had two outs, but there were still runners on first and second.
Julie Holcomb hit a single. Stoddard couldn’t come up cleanly with the ball, and all three Aztecs kept running. Pinch runner Mia Rodriguez came around from second to give SDSU the lead. The run was unearned, but the scoreboard doesn’t care about such things.
Netz sat down the next four batters, but Arizona needed to do something on offense. Kennedy tried with a two-out single in the sixth. Nothing came of it.
Netz came up in the seventh and gave Arizona its best chance of the day. A one-out single gave the Wildcats a baserunner with fewer than two outs. Sydney Stewart hit into a double play to end the game.
ICYMI, @cellura2023 closed out our ranked win by getting a double play in the rain! #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/gXs1Lbi7oD
— San Diego State Softball (@AztecSoftball) April 26, 2025
Maddox took the loss to drop her record to 3-1 this season. She gave up four hits and three walks in 4.1 IP. She struck out three. The lone run was charged to her, but it was unearned. Her ERA dropped from 4.08 to 3.62.
Netz gave up one hit in 1.2 innings of work. She was not charged with any runs, dropping her ERA to 2.11.
Arizona took one of two against the Aztecs over the weekend. The Wildcats won two of three games between the teams this season after defeating SDSU by the run rule at the Judi Garman Classic at Fullerton in early March. A season sweep would have helped UA’s postseason seeding hopes, but sweeping a top 40 RPI team away from home isn’t an easy task.
The Wildcats will return home to practice and regroup for their final Big 12 series. Arizona travels to Houston to take on the Cougars beginning Friday, May 2. The Big 12 Tournament gets underway in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, May 7.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics