OKLAHOMA CITY—Conventional wisdom is that a team’s ace would be the starter in a winner-take-all championship game. Instead, Arizona went with the lefty-on-lefty matchup against Texas Tech and Big 12 Pitcher of the Year NiJaree Canady in the Big 12 Championship title game.
It didn’t work out. The Wildcats fell behind 4-0 in the second and could never make inroads against Canaday, who struck out eight while allowing just two hits and two walks. The score at the end of two still stood when Texas Tech got the final out in the top of the seventh.
“I wanted a shutout today,” said Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco. “I didn’t want one run.”
They got it.
The Red Raiders’ lineup has seven left-handed hitters in it. To counter that, the Wildcats went with freshman left-hander Ryan Maddox to start instead of redshirt senior Devyn Netz or grad student Miranda Stoddard.
“I thought she was a great matchup for them,” said Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe. “And I thought she had a great first inning, and we got a little bit behind in the second. But, again, we got to do a little bit more damage and create in some other areas to back her up.”
Netz had pitched in both of the week’s games, starting one and relieving Stoddard in another. She had also surrendered three home runs over the first two games.
Stoddard has had her difficulties against Texas Tech, giving up four runs in 3.1 innings during the regular season. She also struggled in her appearance against UCF in the quarterfinals of this tournament.
Still, Maddox came in with the highest ERA of the three primary starters at 3.44. Her 1.55 WHIP is the highest of the six Arizona pitchers with more than five appearances. She also has the least experience of those six Wildcat pitchers when considering how many innings Aissa Silva and Brooke Mannon threw last year.
For Lowe, getting that experience in big moments for Maddox was part of the plan.
“I mean, Ryan’s a dog,” Lowe said. “She’s a phenomenal pitcher, and she’s going to have the ball in big moments for us for her entire career. This is just one of those times, and it’s not her entire story. This is the beginning of her story. So I think that’s really important. I want her to have the ball in pressure situations. She’s built for those moments. And I love what Randi came in and did after her. And you know, I think we need to create momentum in other ways than just on the mound and rely on that.”
The Wildcat battery had difficulty staying on the same page. Maddox is a pitcher who must use all planes. Cross-ups between her and Sydney Stewart allowed Raider third baseman Bailey Lindemuth to move up twice after leading off with a single in the second inning. She scored the first run.
Arizona’s defense could have helped Maddox a bit more. A made-to-order inning-ending double play in the second inning didn’t materialize when the throw from Kiki Escobar to Tayler Biehl wasn’t as crisp as it needed to be. The throw to first didn’t happen, and the inning continued. Three of the Raiders’ runs came after that play.
The fly ball that drove in two of those runs looked playable for Dakota Kennedy in deep left field. The sure defender couldn’t come up with the out. The lead went from 1-0 to 3-0, and there were runners on the corners.
Maddox finished the second inning, but against a pitcher like NiJaree Canady, four runs might as well have been 10. Arizona had not scored more than two against Texas Tech this season. The Wildcats won the first game of their series 2-1, lost the second 10-1, and lost the third 5-2.
The Wildcats finally got their first baserunner against Canady in the fourth. Kennedy led off with a bunt. Stewart drew a walk to put two on with two outs, but they were still standing there when the inning was over.
Arizona again got things going in the sixth. Kennedy’s infield single put a runner on with one out, and Regan Shockey followed with another infield single to bring up Netz.
“We talked a lot when we would come in after being on defense, just going in and playing our game,” Kennedy said. “Part of my game is bunting, so that’s what I did.”
Netz hit back to the circle, and Canady looked to the lead runner. Kennedy was out at third, and there was still time to throw across the diamond to double up Netz. Threat over.
Canady gave up two hits and two walks while striking out eight in the win.
Maddox took the loss. She surrendered four earned runs on four hits, a walk, and a wild pitch in two innings.
Stoddard gave up no runs on no hits. She walked two and struck out three in four innings.
“I think that we really rely on each other and know that any one of us can be in any one of these situations,” Stoddard said. “I mean, just this weekend, right? I was. I came out and Devyn went in for me, so I think it’s built a good culture in the bullpen of just knowing that we can rely on each other. You might be the starter, you might be the closer, you might go in for one batter, but knowing that we’ll be able to do our job and then someone else will pick us up if we’re not able to.”
Arizona will now wait to see if it hosts the regional round of the NCAA tournament. The selections will be announced on Sunday, May 11 at 4 p.m. MST on ESPN2. The Wildcats came into the championship game at No. 12 in the RPI, which will have a big impact on the 16 teams chosen to host regionals and the eight chosen for super regionals.
Big 12 All-Tournament Team
- Most Outstanding Player: NiJaree Canaday, Texas Tech
- Devyn Netz, Arizona
- Regan Shockey, Arizona
- Sydney Stewart, Arizona
- Kenzie Brown, Arizona State
- Aleia Agbayani, BYU
- Ashleigh Griffin, UCF
- Angelina Allen, Iowa State
- Mihyia Davis, Texas Tech
- Alana Johnson, Texas Tech
- Hailey Toney, Texas Tech
Lead photo courtesy of Big 12 Conference