By
Brett Erickson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Manuma nabs Pac-10 Player of the Week honor
After coasting through its first 26 games with relative ease, the No. 2 Arizona softball team was in somewhat of a precarious spot.
The Wildcats outscored their opponents 251-10, won via the eight-run mercy rule 19 times and held the other team scoreless on 21 occasions.
Despite these lofty numbers, Arizona's perception of its dominance was skewed by its opponents lack of balanced hitting and strong pitching, characteristic of many of the nation's best teams.
So when defending national champion and fifth-ranked Oklahoma stepped on the field for the final game of the Hillenbrand Invitational Sunday afternoon, Arizona finally had the chance to accurately see how it measured up against a top-5 opponent.
Needless to say, the emotional 6-2 victory against the Sooners gave the Wildcats the answer they were looking for. Arizona executed offensively at critical points in the game, as the Wildcats scored all six of their runs with two outs in the third inning.
Freshman Leneah Manuma led the Wildcats' attack, as she clubbed first- and third-inning homers. Both shots came with senior Toni Mascarenas on base. Manuma, who was 6-for-11 with seven runs scored, six RBI and three home runs during the tournament, was named the Pacific 10 Conference Player of the Week yesterday for her standout performance.
"It's a really nice honor, but it's something that I share with my team," Manuma said. "Just being on the team I'm on gives me a chance to relax and do what I like to do, and that's wait for good pitches and hit the ball hard."
Even with Manuma's offensive capabilities - she is tied for second on the team with 11 homers and fifth in hitting with a .438 mark - her teammates also praise her for the attitude she brings to the team.
After each of her homers against the Sooners, Manuma rounded the bases and greeted her teammates with emphatic high-fives and a serious face.
"Just seeing her hit those home runs definitely pumped me up," senior shortstop Allison Andrade said. "She definitely gives us some intimidation in the lineup."
Freshman Jenny Gladding agreed.
"She took her adrenaline and passed it along to everybody else," Gladding said.
Manuma and the Wildcats (27-0) get the chance to improve their already impressive statistics tonight against Creighton. Arizona defeated the Blue Jays (4-6) by a score of 9-0 Friday night.
In that game, senior Becky Lemke limited Creighton to one hit while striking out 12 batters, and freshman Kim Balkan hit a grand slam for the Wildcats.
Coming back to play a non-conference game two days after the College World Series atmosphere Sunday shouldn't pose a problem for Arizona, Andrade said.
"Having the day off today kind of gave us a chance to think about the victory," said Andrade, who also had an impressive tournament, hitting .500 with five runs, six RBI and four homers.
Gladding agreed that getting pumped up for a game after playing Oklahoma would not be a problem. In fact, she said it would be relatively easy because of the desire of the team to continually improve.
"We're not going to settle for just beating Oklahoma," she said.
The game starts tonight at 7 at Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium.
