A high scoring affair went the way of the opposition this afternoon, as Arizona softball lost to Ole Miss 10-8 to drop into the elimination bracket of the NCAA Tucson Regional.
The loss marked Arizona’s first defeat in regional play since 2015, snapping a 22-game winning streak. Arizona will now have to beat either Santa Clara or Grand Canyon this evening to advance to Sunday, where the Wildcats would need to beat Ole Miss twice to win the regional.
A full recap of the game can be found here. Below is what coach Caitlin Lowe and outfielder Kaiah Alymeyer had to say about the loss.
Lowe on the loss: “I think that kind of game is what the postseason is all about. And I’m proud of the fight we had throughout. Obviously, came up short in the end, but I think that fuels our fire for the next game. And you know, we fought all the way, got into a situation with a chance to win the game, and that’s what we were striving for that whole time. And just props to them, they played a tough game and ready to kind of chip away at this and get after this next one.”
Lowe on moving past Arizona’s first inning defensive miscues: “The way they responded was on point for me. So I think, things are going to happen. Mistakes are going to happen if you play a game, and we’re all human. And the way they responded was fantastic. Jenna (Sniffen) was an absolute wall. We made some tough plays at second base. I choose them every time, and they responded perfectly.”
Lowe on the foul ball call on at bat by Emily Schepp: “I thought it was fair. That’s all.”
Lowe on the quick turnaround for tonight’s elimination game: “Well, I think they’re ready. We’ve faced both of these opponents. And in a lot of ways, we just have to keep the momentum from this last game as far as our offense was nails today, I thought. And we’re going to keep doing that. And I think we shore up some things on the mound defensively, and we’re good to go. But I don’t want to lose any momentum from this first game, because I think it is a loss, but at the same time, a lot of good things were happening, so we want to take those on to the next game.”
Lowe on the offensive approach against Ole Miss: “Honestly, I love their at bats today. They were grinding the whole time. I thought we made a lot of tough outs early on. Emily Schepp saw the ball well all day. Jenna to the wall. They made a lot of catches right at the wall. I think we were feisty. We hardly gave any at bats away today. So I think just them staying exactly where their feet are, competing pitch to pitch is huge. And I thought we competed well off of all three of their pitchers, and those are very good arms in their bullpen. So just excited for the chance to hopefully play them again. But right now, we’re so focused on where our feet are and winning this next game.”
Altmeyer on the mentality heading into tonight: “I think that just fills our fire even more, and it’s just a longer journey than we thought. But anything that comes our way, I don’t think it matters. We’re just determined and just a longer journey than we thought, but our mindset is focused on one thing, which is winning.”
Altmeyer on playing through a slump at the plate: “Obviously every at bat counts, but I just know I need to come up for my team. I’ve been struggling, so just locking in and giving everything I have emotionally and physically and everything. So yeah, I’m just trying to be there for my team and get in any runs I can, or move around, or whatever the at bat calls for.”
Lowe on Devyn Netz’s outing on the mound: “I mean, I thought Devyn did a great job of settling in and competing. And we’ve been in those games before where, you know, both offenses are feeling good, and we just got to come through in the end. You know, we have to score. We truly believe we can always score one more than the other team. So I think it’s just the hand that you dealt that day. It’s that type of game. It was an offensive game today. We came up short, but we’re going to go right after the next game, and it’s probably have a bullpen update too. We’re built for this. We’re built for a long weekend where we can absolutely go to work and trust the arms that we put on the mound, and we do trust them top to bottom. So, yeah, we didn’t succeed in every single moment today, but we have another chance to do it in about three two and a half hours.”
Lowe on whether she got a good look at the foul call: “No, I didn’t get it. That would be against the rules, and not a challengeable play, unless they call it fair, and then it ends up being foul. So you can challenge it the opposite way. You can’t place runners there.”
Lowe on tough it is to stay positive when breaks aren’t going Arizona’s way: “Honestly not that tough. I feel like they’re where they need to be, and they’re hungry, that’s the thing. And they’re not treating it as a defeat as much as this is just a different scenario. You know? It’s a roundabout way of we got to get more wins to get there, to get to where we want to go. So we have fierce competitors on our team, top to bottom, and they’re going to compete every single pitch until the job is done. And right now, the job is the winner of this game. And then we think about tomorrow tomorrow.”