Wildcats featured in upcoming United Way campaign

Richard K. White, vice president of marketing, said the project's goal is to provide a feel-good message for the video, which features UA head coach Mike Candrea singing lead on James Brown's "I Feel Good" with his players singing background.

"I've seen several of the team's games this year and they seemed like a fun group of girls," White said. "We thought they were a good reflection of our goal and a good representation of the UA community."

The spot, which will begin airing locally in July, also features Wilbur the Wildcat and several members of the UA cheerleading squad.

White said the United Way of Greater Tucson raised $12 million last year and, with the help of recognizable Wildcat icons, hopes to increase that figure this year.

Amidst yesterday's hoopla at Hillenbrand Stadium, Candrea promised to continue shuffling his hand during this weekend's games in preparation for the upcoming Pacific 10 Conference schedule.

The majority of moves will come in the circle, where the second starting spot still appears to be up for grabs.

Candrea said senior Nancy Evans will start game one of today's doubleheader versus sixth-ranked Oklahoma (19-3) and freshman Becky Lemke most likely get the nod in the nightcap.

As for the rotation for the remainder of the weekend, Candrea said a decision as to who would start will not come until later. He added he is more concerned with other parts of the game.

"My focus continues to be on us putting together the perfect game," Candrea said. "If we have to play 14 innings I want to make sure we play each one of them as hard as we can."

Today's 2 p.m. game against the Sooners will be yet another test in the early season nonconference schedule for both teams.

Oklahoma's three losses have come at the hands of Southwest Missouri State and nationally-ranked Michigan and Washington.

The Sooners and Wildcats are both undefeated against SW Texas State, New Mexico State, Illinois-Chicago and Florida. However, Arizona went 8-0 in those meetings, outscoring its opponents 75-4, while Oklahoma recorded four victories against no losses, outscoring the quartet of teams eight to zero.

The Wildcats face Texas Tech tomorrow and San Diego State Sunday to round out the invitational. Both contests begin at 2 p.m.