By
Brett Erickson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wildcats use exhibition games against Central Arizona to work on fundamentals before Friday's Pac-10 opener at Oregon
Last night's doubleheader against Central Arizona had all the ingredients of a yawner for the second-ranked Arizona softball team.
For starters, neither the player's statistics nor the actual games did not officially count because the Vaqueros are a junior college, not a Division I institution. Also, with Pacific 10 Conference games beginning Friday in Eugene, Ore., the Wildcats are poised to enter the toughest stretch of their 61-game season.
Despite these potential distractions, the UA head coach Mike Candrea treated last night's two games like anything but exhibition contests.
Instead, Candrea used the 14 innings to test his team's ability to do the little things in order to win games. The results were mixed, although Arizona did win the two games, 10-1 and 7-2.
The good things for Arizona included strong outings from Arizona's four pitchers, seniors Becky Lemke and Teresa Demeter in the first game, and junior Jennie Finch and freshman Jenny Gladding in the nightcap. The four struck out 22 hitters while yielding four hits and walking just one batter.
The bad, though, included several lazy pop fly outs, a throwing error on a routine bunt, and not covering third base on an attempted steal by the Vaqueros.
"That pisses me off more than anything when someone steals third base on us, because that's our thing," said Candrea, who coached the Vaqueros from 1981-85 before coming to Arizona.
"That was just a situation where you're in the second game of a doubleheader, you've just kicked the butt out of someone, the score is 6 to 1 and your mind is not thinking."
Despite these "simple mistakes," Candrea did not regret scheduling the exhibition doubleheader on a day usually reserved for the team's lone day off.
"My biggest thing tonight was trying to get some at bats for everyone," he said after the game. "Sometimes in practice we're getting great pitches and we're sitting there launching balls out of the ballpark, but when it comes game time, it's a little different. This was better than a practice for us."
Standing out offensively for Arizona was senior Lauren Bauer, who went 5-for-5, scored five times and hit two home runs. Her second home run was an inside-the-park shot, her second of the season.
Senior Toni Mascarenas, Finch and freshman Mackenzie Vandergeest also hit long balls for the Wildcats.
Finch also stood out in the pitching circle, as she was perfect through four innings of work and did not allow a ball to leave the infield.
