'Cats to battle 'Dogs on diamond

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat UA pitcher Nancy Evans (right) gets some advice from third baseman Leticia Pineda (7) and catcher Leah Braatz during Saturday's game against Washington.

The Wildcats (39-3 overall, 7-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) host the fourth-ranked Fresno State Bulldogs (27-4, 14-0 in the Western Athletic Conference) tonight at Hillenbrand Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

One of head coach John Candrea's biggest concerns is the performance of All-America starting pitcher Nancy Evans, who suffered her first lost of the season in Saturday's 9-0 first-game loss to the Huskies.

"That was not Nancy Evans out there tonight," Candrea said shortly after the loss. "She and the trainer (Cindy Michaud) were working on her forearm before the game and when you are having problems with that it makes you much less effective because you can't spin the ball at all."

Evans struggled throughout the opening game, yielding two huge home runs to Husky first baseman Eve Gaw, her first two of the year.

The nine runs Evans gave up in defeat almost equaled her previous total for the entire year.

Coming into Saturday's matchup, Evans had given up just 11 earned runs in 23 appearances spanning over 125 innings of work.

Evans will most likely square off against Fresno State star hurler Amanda Scott in tonight's opening game. Scott tossed her first career perfect game in the opener of Sunday's doubleheader sweep of New Mexico.

Scott, who also helped her own cause with a grand slam in the sixth inning of that game, has won her last six starts, five of which have been shutouts. In those games, she has given up just 12 hits and three runs, good enough for a minuscule .019 ERA. She also recorded 33 strikeouts in that same stretch.

Her skills, however, do not end there as she has hit safely in 14 of the last 15 games with a .481 batting average, eight home runs and 33 RBI.

Tonight's doubleheader will be the second and third meetings between the two schools with Arizona winning the previous contest.

The Wildcats defeated the Bulldogs 6-1 in the semifinals of the Kia Klassic March 21 before taking home the tournament title.