By
Brett Erickson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wildcats open home schedule against 4 unranked opponents at Pepsi Classic
Preparing an unranked squad to face the Arizona softball team is a daunting task. Led by a balanced offensive attacked and dominant pitching, the third-ranked Wildcats (10-0) have steamrolled through teams in tournaments in Tampa, Fla. and Phoenix. Arizona has outscored its opposition 83-4.
"They looked in midseason form at the beginning of the season, so that's kind of scary for everyone else," said Lee Ann Jarvis, head softball coach at New Mexico State.
Jarvis, who saw Arizona play one game last weekend at the Fiesta Bowl Tournament in Phoenix, is one of four coaches who bring their respective teams to Tucson this weekend for the Pepsi Arizona Softball Classic. Besides New Mexico State (3-8), Bowling Green (0-0), Oklahoma State (2-3), Kentucky (1-2) and Pacific (2-2) will compete in the three-day tournament. Arizona opens play today against Bowling Green at 3 p.m. and Oklahoma State at 5 p.m.
Led by senior Toni Mascarenas' seven home runs, Arizona has already hit 25 long balls in 10 games.
Freshman Mackenzie Vandergeest, freshman Leneah Manuma and senior Lindsey Collins each have three homers for the Wildcats.
"There's no question that (UA head coach) Mike (Candrea) has a very powerful team," Oklahoma State head coach Sandy Fischer said. "To keep the ball away from their hitters is a tough task."
Arizona, though, has thrived thus far because it has used the long ball as well as timely base hits to manufacture runs. Vandergeest leads the team with a .536 batting average, followed by Mascarenas (.517) and senior Lauren Bauer (.500), who also has a team-high 18 hits and 17 runs scored.
This balance of power and hitting for average makes it difficult for opposing teams to hang with Arizona.
"You have to play flawless with the talent they have," Jarvis said. "But you just tell your team to go out and play hard and not give in no matter what."
Pacific head coach Brian Kolze agreed.
"Our strategy is probably what everybody else has tried - you can't walk people and you can't make defensive mistakes," he said.
Although the Wildcats' offensive numbers are staggering, it's been their pitching that has allowed them to get off to a perfect start. Senior Becky Lemke (4-0), junior Jennie Finch (3-0) and freshman Jenny Gladding (3-0) have a combined 0.23 ERA. The three have also combined to strike out 105 batters in just 61 innings while allowing 25 base hits.
Jarvis said beating the Wildcats is not necessarily the only way her team can benefit from this weekend's tournament.
"If you can give yourself a chance to stay in the game, you can walk away and say, 'We were right there,'" she said.
