Mariah Lopez threw a three-hit shutout and No. 2 Arizona evened the series with No. 15 Florida State by squeaking out a 1-0 win on Friday in Tallahassee.
Sharlize Palacios had the lone RBI, roping a single into left center to score Bella Dayton in the fourth. Arizona had some chances to add to the lead but couldn’t come through, stranding at least one runner in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
It was the best outing of the season for Lopez, who had been struggled with walks and homers. The senior struck out nine, hit two batters, walked one and allowed three singles.
The Seminoles only put two runners in scoring position all game. An infield single placed the tying run on first with two outs in the seventh, but Lopez struck out Kaia LoPreste on four pitches to cap a dominant outing.
The Wildcats improve to 14-2 on the season. Their offense has struggled against high-quality pitching this season, mustering just six total runs in four games against Oregon State, UCF and Florida State (x2). The No. 7, 8 and 9 hitters went 0 for 7 on Friday.
FSU starter Caylan Arnold fanned 10 Wildcats in 5.1 innings. Danielle Watson struck out three in 1.2 innings.
The rubber match is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. MST on ACC Network Extra.
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