It was almost like a game of chicken. Neither Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe nor Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco sent their team’s ace into the circle to start the game. When the No. 14 Red Raiders jumped on No. 12 Arizona’s starting pitcher out of the gate, Glasco fell back on his ace. It worked perfectly. The Wildcats playing their worst game of the season didn’t hurt, either.
“We played bad softball all around,” Lowe said. “It wasn’t one person, it was everyone.”
TTU defeated Arizona 10-1 in five innings on Friday to even the three-game series at one win apiece. NiJaree Canady did not start the game for the Raiders, but she got the win to improve to 18-5 this season. Aissa Silva took the loss in her third start of the season, but she wasn’t the only Wildcat player to struggle.
Silva has been primarily pitching to lefties this year. Lowe said that’s because she’s had some difficulties with right-handed hitters but has performed well against those who hit from the left. With TTU running out a lineup with just two right-handed hitters, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to get Silva some innings.
She was a perfect matchup for this team,” Lowe said. “She didn’t come out and execute, so we had to get her out of the game quickly. I’m hoping that she responds tomorrow. She’s still a good matchup, but it takes getting punched in the gut a little bit and then showing up and not making excuses and just being better the next time. I think that’s the whole team-wide concept.”
It went wrong right from the start. Silva was called for an illegal pitch on her first delivery. Her second pitch was sent over the fence by Mihyia Davis to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.
If the deficit had stayed there, it would have been manageable for the Wildcats. They fell behind TTU 1-0 on Thursday night but scored two runs of their own against Canady to take the win. With Chloe Riassetto starting instead of Canady on Friday, they should have been able to fight back.
Silva couldn’t keep the deficit at one, though. After the Davis home run, she gave up two walks, a single, and a fielder’s choice to load the bases with one out. After the second walk, Silva was relieved by fellow lefty Ryan Maddox.
Maddox didn’t have any more luck than Silva did. She allowed all three inherited runners to score.
A single brought in one run, giving TTU a 2-0 advantage. A sacrifice fly with a blown relay throw allowed the other two to cross home plate.
The error was charged as a throwing error on right fielder Kaiah Altmeyer, but it just as easily could have been charged to second baseman Kiki Escobar, who bobbled the ball. Escobar had two errors of her own later in the game.
“She’s been nails for us defensively, making really hard plays all year long,” Lowe said of Escobar. “And she had a rough one today, and she’s gonna be better tomorrow. Happens in this game. And this game challenges you in a lot of ways, and we know that.”
Arizona has responded after giving up runs so many times this season that the four-run deficit didn’t seem insurmountable. It was especially encouraging when Dakota Kennedy and Regan Shockey led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles.
Altmeyer moved both runners up with a groundout, then Devyn Netz drove Kennedy in with a sacrifice fly. The Wildcats stalled there, getting just one run from a situation where they had two in scoring position with one out.
Maddox got her team back into the dugout quickly with a 1-2-3 second inning. Emily Schepp led off the bottom of the inning with a single of Riassetto, and Glasco decided he wasn’t going to mess around anymore. Canady took the circle with a 4-1 lead.
Arizona got some chances off last year’s national player of the year. Jenna Sniffen sacrificed Schepp to second base, then Tayler Biehl stepped in and battled Canady. Arizona’s shortstop forced the TTU star to throw six pitches. Canady finally missed her location on the seventh one, hitting Biehl. Arizona had two on with one out.
Escobar reached on a fielder’s choice that didn’t record an out. The bases were loaded with one out.
Kennedy was the second batter of the inning to go toe-to-toe with Canady in an extended at-bat. Arizona’s left fielder forced seven pitches, working the count full. The eighth pitch was the strikeout. The bases were still loaded, but Arizona had two outs now.
Shockey grounded out to end the inning and Arizona’s last good scoring chance of the game.
Maddox couldn’t replicate the top of the second. In the third, she gave up a single, a walk, and a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners with one out. TTU executed the squeeze to add onto the lead.
The rally didn’t stop there. Demi Elder’s double put another run on the board for the Raiders. They led 6-1 by the time Maddox got the final out of the third inning.
Two leadoff singles in the fourth had Texas Tech threatening more runs. Arizona got the first out when the Wildcats’ infield got Davis in a rundown. The second was a pop-up to shortstop. Maybe they could keep the deficit at five runs.
That deficit still would have been huge against a pitcher like Canady, who came in with a 0.84 ERA. With what was essentially an insurmountable lead, the question was whether Arizona should just play it out and save its top two pitchers for the series finale. If the Raiders won, there was an opportunity tomorrow to get a better start and win the series 2-1.
That isn’t the way Lowe and her staff think. They put Miranda Stoddard in the game to get the final out of the inning.
“We’re trying to keep the game close, and we’re trying to get after her, and we want as many at-bats as possible,” Lowe said. “I go back to our Texas game. I think it took us six pitches to score three runs. This team can do anything, I truly believe that, and they can do it fast. So when the mentality is there, I think we always have a chance, and I know they know we always have a chance. So, definitely wanted to keep it close in that moment and see what she had against their hitters.”
It didn’t work. Stoddard gave up a single that allowed an inherited runner to score. The lead was now 7-1 in TTU’s favor. The Red Raiders only needed two more runs to create a run-rule possibility.
They got more than that.
Escobar committed two errors. Stoddard gave up two singles, two walks, and a fielder’s choice that allowed a run to score. She also hit a batter. Texas Tech led 10-1.
Arizona went down fairly meekly in the bottom of the fifth. Shockey hit a single, but that was the extent of the damage. The Wildcat centerfielder had two of Arizona’s four hits on the day. Kennedy and Schepp each got one.
The two teams will go at it for the third and final time of the regular season on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. MST. A win would keep Arizona (37-8, 14-6) in the hunt for the Big 12 regular season title. A loss would essentially lock it up for Texas Tech (35-10, 15-2).
“We’re trying to play our best softball when it matters,” Lowe said. “So we are just continuously focused on getting better every single day. Obviously, [the regular season title is] in our sights, and, at the same time, we have to play our best softball. We didn’t play our best softball today. We played some of our worst softball today, and that doesn’t feel good. But, at the same time, this game will gut-check you, and you have to respond to it. And that’s what we’re in control over—how we show up tomorrow, how we prepare, and responding to how we feel after getting punched in the gut.”
Arizona’s four seniors will be honored after the game on Saturday.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics