Arizona softball’s season came to an end Sunday night with a 7-3 loss to Ole Miss in the NCAA Tucson Regional final. Arizona beat Ole Miss 10-1 earlier in the day to force a winner-take-all game, but the Wildcats bats couldn’t replicate their success in the nightcap.
A recap of Sunday’s games can be found here. Below is what coach Caitlin Lowe, pitchers Miranda Stoddard and Devyn Netz and catcher Syndey Stewart had to say.
Lowe on Arizona falling short: “I’ll start off by saying congrats to Ole Miss. I thought it was a hard fought game beginning so incredibly proud of the way our group showed up today. They showed up throwing punches from the beginning to the very last out. You know, I thought we didn’t get a lot of stuff again. That was tough. And at the same time, they just kept going to work. And, you know, a hard fought battle, hard, hard regional and congrats to them, but I couldn’t be more proud of the fight and the all of it, the grit, all of it that our team put in today, and just couldn’t be more proud of the group to the left of me as well, and super proud of our seniors and the legacy that they left with this program.”
Stoddard on playing her last game in an Arizona uniform: “It’s definitely hard. It’s tough. It’s emotional. I’ve been playing softball for 20 years now, so it’s just it’s hard. Anytime you close a chapter of your life, even knowing that you have great things ahead, it’s still hard. But I think that I can speak for both of us, and we’re really just proud to have worn this uniform and to be passing it along and know that we’re leaving it in good hands. So I’m just really grateful for the short time that I was able to be here, but it’s definitely changed my life, and I’m really grateful for this time. So just makes it harder to put it in the past.”
Netz on finishing her Arizona career: “I’d just like to say thank you to Cait and Coach Candrea for ever taking a chance on a girl who just wanted to play at the highest level and who also wanted to just win a national championship and just love the game. And I remember the moment that I stepped on campus. It was just everything that I wanted. And I remember sitting in my math class in high school emailing them, saying, ‘You know what, I want to win a national championship with you guys.’ And I got that email back. I was so excited, I knew I was gonna commit here. And, gosh, I couldn’t have picked a better school. Couldn’t have picked a better coaching staff, but gosh, I’m so, so grateful for the people that have surrounded me, the people who supported me, everyone behind the scenes, but gosh, I I can’t help but think that we’re leaving this uniform better than we found it. And not not only as a player, but also as a person, is just one of the biggest things that I strive to do is just to leave each place better than I found it. And honestly, I can’t think of a better group than to leave this uniform with and pass it on to our seniors this next year. But quite honestly, thank you for taking a chance on me.”
Netz on the difficulty of pitching to Ole Miss: “I just think, honestly, just being able to hit my spots at the end of the day, and sometimes the team just has your number, and that’s what it felt like today.” And yes,
Stewart on bases loaded opportunity in the sixth inning: “I think just not making the moment bigger than itself, like I always say, you know, the fans are kind of getting a little rowdy and, like, everyone’s standing up. And I think my my plan was to attack an inside pitch, and I got an inside pitch, I was just a little early. That was the plan, but she came out of that plan and she executed. So props to her.”
Lowe on the program’s outlook: “I definitely feel great about the direction that our program’s going. I think about our crowd today and this weekend, and Tucson doesn’t show up for just anybody in the softball world, and they show up for champions, and these guys laid it all out on the line every single day of the entire season. People show up for that, and they have your back, and I’m just so, so proud of the legacy these guys are going to leave. And it’s not this weekend, that doesn’t define them. It’s Devyn’s absolute spirit and heart of a warrior, and Miranda’s feistiness and ability to just go out and dominate and no questions asked, and just top to bottom, they’ve left this team better, and I think that’s what we’re doing every year. And it doesn’t always result in a National Championship. It doesn’t. Only one team gets to do that every single year, but I will tell you that I think we talked about it in 2022, we were sitting in the room watching our name not get called in the postseason, and this group did nothing but absolutely just go to work on getting better. And they looked in the mirror, and that’s a hard thing to do in this day and age, to just look in the mirror and say, ‘How are we going to grow and how are we going to get better?’ And that was Devyn and quite a few other people I can remember. Our ‘22 class was freshmen in that room, and they decided how they wanted this program to be, the standards, the culture, all of it, they bought in, and they’ve just been going to work till the very last out today. They absolutely fought their tails off for what they believe this team to be and for what they believe to be in the future. So yeah, it’s a hard knock to take, but I also told them my freshman year did not end where it needed to be, and to me that fueled my fire for the rest of my entire life. So sometimes life hands you these things, and for our seniors, they’re going to use it in life, because that’s how it goes. And for the rest of them, they’re going to use it in the game too, and I’m excited to see what that brings next season.”
Lowe on falling 4-0 in the first inning and the team’s response: “It was a punch, but we were throwing punches all all day, and I was proud of us for responding with the two there in the beginning. And you know, a lot of people are going to talk about the left on base, but we were relentless getting people on and putting pressure on every single inning, and our outs with runners left on base were feisty. I mean, Jenna’s lining out to the right fielder. We had three balls to the warning track. They were in the right place at the right time, a lot of today. And that happens. It’s life, and you got to swallow it, and you got to take it on the chin, and you want to do it with a circle like this, because a circle like this is going to keep you strong and keep you motivated for the future. And I’m glad our circle is tight and that we have our people.”
Lowe on Stewart swinging first pitch: “She has the authority to absolutely hack when she wants to hack. And I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Lowe on the style of play this weekend: “We played cat and mouse all weekend long. And I don’t know if you could tell, but I mean, we were sitting on change ups and moments and hammering them out of the park, AKA Devyn yesterday. We were sitting hard sometimes. We were sitting out. We were sitting in. And that is the most fun part of this game, is being able to play at that level where you’re in this, you’re living, breathing thing in this video game, and they make an adjustment, you make an adjustment. It’s the best part about softball. And so when there is the belief in your team and their preparation, they have the authority to absolutely just go for it. And that’s the thing. They went for it all weekend. They went for it. And it doesn’t always end up the way you want it to, but it takes courage and fight to absolutely just lay yourself on the line like that. And they did it, they did it, and they’re disappointed because they left everything on the field for you guys. And I couldn’t be more proud that that’s the group that showed up this weekend.”
Lowe on Kaiah Altmeyer getting caught stealing: “Just a miscommunication.”
Lowe on the parity in college softball: “I mean, it’s great right now. The competition, I know our girls are glued to every single game that’s on TV, watching the fight back and forth. And I don’t know how the games ended up today, but I do know there were a lot of hard fought wins. I mean, you don’t see shutouts anymore, either. It’s a different kind of game. And there’s so much back and forth, and you gotta just keep your head screwed on. You got to be tough and you got to go to war. And it doesn’t always end your way. And at the same time, just you want to see your team fight like that and leave everything out on the line. So I’m proud of where the sport is. I think when you look at the World Series crowds, and how, not only the World Series crowds, I mean, we had ESPN viewership numbers that outranked a lot of male sports. And I’m just proud of where female sports is going. I mean, people want to tune in and watch us play, because they play the game hard, and that’s exciting to me, not just for softball, but for women in general, too.”
Lowe on the importance of matchups in a winner-take-all game: “ I think we trusted everyone, top to bottom, one through 22 to get the job done. Did I think Miranda was going to have like 10 endings in her belt, or whatever she had? I don’t know. You dig a little deeper when it becomes this situation. And I was proud of that. Was proud of Aissa (Silva) being able to come in. And people just being able to have each other’s backs. Like everybody has walked into this press conference and said, you know, it was my job to take the ball in that moment and have your back in that moment. And that’s, that’s cool. It’s not, you know, we’re not passing along failure. We’re passing along like, let’s go, give me the ball. I’m next. And that mentality felt really good.”
Stoddard on the the bond this team shares: “Yeah, for sure. I always say, when it rains it pours, right? I of course I’d be the last out today, and of course Deb would be the last out the other day. That’s just how the sport works, I swear. But yeah, I stepped away from the game, and I struggled to find my love for it, and this group has definitely allowed me to go out with such a sweet taste in my mouth about the sport and about what it can mean to be a team and mean to be a teammate, and so especially these two next to me, I’m just so grateful for them, and it’s just been fun, and I think that that’s really what it’s all about. and it’s it’s great I think that that’s exactly what we all want to return to. It’s the same feeling that we had when we were you know, playing all stars, when we were eight and others and I think that we kind of bring some of that Lucy’s and silliness and fun back to the game and so I’m really grateful that I was able to go out in that way and in that light.”
Lead photo by Ryan Kelapire