Miranda Stoddard and Sydney Stewart
It took the No. 12 Arizona Wildcats a while to get going offensively in their first two games against Houston. They didn’t have that problem in the finale as they secured the sweep in their sixth Big 12 series win.
UA defeated the Cougars 8-3 to finish its first season in the Big 12 at 43-10 overall and 17-7 in league play. The Wildcats were projected to be the third-best team by both the league voters and the NFCA, but they will enter the Big 12 Softball Tournament second in the standings. Texas Tech won the regular season with a 20-4 league record.
The Wildcats got a major contribution from a two-way player for the third straight day. Devyn Netz had a big day in the circle on Saturday to pick up her 20th win of the season. Fellow right-handed hurler and first baseman Miranda Stoddard showed her mettle over the entire weekend but really stepped up in the finale. The grad student hit a grand slam and pitched four innings of one-hit ball to pick up her second pitching win of the series.
Arizona didn’t score until the third inning of Friday’s game. On Saturday, the Wildcats waited until the fifth. There was no such delay on Sunday and Stoddard was a big reason why.
It started with a manufactured run. Regan Shockey got on with a one-out single. She got in scoring position with her 20th stolen base of the season, becoming the first Wildcat with at least 20 stolen bases since Chelsea Suitos had 20 in 2015.
The extra base was important. Kaiah Altmeyer drove in the first run with a single, and it didn’t stop there.
Sydney Stewart put two runners on with her team-leading 43rd walk of the season. Netz followed with another walk to load the bases. That brought up her fellow power-hitting pitcher.
Arizona left 16 runners on base in the first two games, wasting 12 in the first game alone. They ended with nine left on base in this one, but it wasn’t because of Stoddard. Her grand slam to right center put the ‘Cats up 5-0 in the first inning.
Stoddard went back to the dugout, where she planned to spend Arizona’s defensive half-innings. Saya Swain took the circle with Netz at first base and Stoddard as the designated player. It was Swain’s fifth start of the season.
It didn’t go the way the Wildcats hoped. Swain was unable to find the zone. Two walks, a hit batter, two wild pitches, and a single pushed two runs across for the Cougars before an out was recorded.
Stoddard entered the game in relief after the second run scored. She carried her momentum from offense to the circle.
Stoddard got a groundout then struck the next two Cougars out looking to get her team back in the dugout with the three-run lead. She didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning. The two-out single was harmless.
Her offense continued to be very harmful for the Cougars. Stoddard’s one-out double that hit just inside the left field line was the catalyst for Arizona’s sixth run. Jenna Sniffen’s fifth hit of the weekend should have put Stoddard on third, but a Houston error allowed her to score to put Arizona up 6-2.
The Wildcats added another run in the fifth when Stewart joined Stoddard in the home run column for the second game of the weekend. The pair had two of Arizona’s three home runs on Friday night.
The battery was right in the middle of Arizona’s scoring in the sixth inning, too. Altmeyer, Stewart, and Netz drew back-to-back-to-back walks to load the bases with no outs. Stoddard’s fielder’s choice gave the Wildcats an 8-2 lead.
The team’s eight runs came on eight hits and nine walks. Shockey and Stoddard both had multi-hit games. Shockey went 2 for 4. Stoddard was 2 for 3 with a walk and five RBI. Both of her hits went for extra bases.
Stewart was only 1 for 2 but she also drew two walks. Arizona’s catcher went 5 for 7 with four walks and four RBI in the three-game series. Others with multi-walk games were Dakota Kennedy (2) and Netz (3).
Stoddard picked up her 12th pitching win of the season to keep her record perfect. She surrendered just one hit and did not walk a batter in four innings of work. She struck out two and dropped her ERA to 1.81.
She joins Netz and Swain to give Arizona three pitchers with ERA below 2.50, although only Netz and Stoddard have pitched enough innings to qualify for rankings. Arizona has not had three (or more) sub-2.50 ERA from pitchers with double-digit innings pitched since 2019. Five Wildcat pitchers had at least 10 IP and ERA of 1.95 or lower that season.
Redshirt freshman Ryan Maddox relieved Stoddard in the fifth, going 2.0 innings with one hit and two walks. She struck out one.
Aissa Silva followed Maddox, throwing the final inning. Silva dismissed the first two batters before giving up a solo home run. She regrouped quickly to strike out the Cougars’ final batter on three straight pitches.
Quick hits
- Netz received a “golden ticket” for the AUSL draft in Arizona’s final homestand of the regular season. It guaranteed that she would be taken in the league’s inaugural draft. She was taken by the Bandits with the 10th overall pick on Saturday afternoon.
- Arizona will not come back to Tucson before the Big 12 Softball Tournament. The team will fly to Oklahoma City from Houston and spend a few days getting acclimated.
- The Wildcats will play their first game of the conference tournament on Thursday, May 8 at 3 p.m. MST. They will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between the No. 7 and No. 10 seeds. UCF and Utah were in those positions entering the final day of play but there was room for movement. Arizona lost its opening Big 12 series 2-1 to UCF in early March.
Lead photo by Madison Farwell / Arizona Athletics