By
Brett Erickson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Top-ranked Wildcats riding 37-game home winning streak
Mike Candrea has learned a thing or two during his 15-plus seasons as the head coach of the Arizona softball team.
Among other things, Candrea has come to realize that in the always-competitive Pacific 10 Conference - which has seen one of its eight teams claim 14 of the 19 College World Series titles - road wins can be hard to come by.
This reality of Pac-10 softball makes it critical for teams to take care of business at home, which the top-ranked Wildcats have a chance to do this weekend.
"My biggest thing with this team is we need to take advantage of the home field," Candrea said following his team's 5-0 win against Arizona State in Tempe Wednesday.
Arizona (47-4 overall, 9-2 Pac-10) will play host to No. 14 Oregon State (35-16-1, 5-5) tonight in a doubleheader beginning at 6 at Hillenbrand Stadium. The Wildcats also bring in Pac-10 cellar-dweller Oregon (25-30, 1-11) tomorrow at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 1.
Taking care of business at home is nothing new for the Wildcats, who have won 37 consecutive decisions dating back to April 9, 2000 against Stanford. Should Arizona sweep the weekend's four games, the team would be four wins shy of the longest winning streak - 45 games, established from May 3, 1996 to March 6, 1998 - in school history.
Against Oregon State earlier this season, junior Jennie Finch (21-0, 0.27 ERA) delivered her fifth career no-hitter in UA's 5-0 win in Corvallis, Ore.
On that same road trip, Arizona crushed the Ducks 11-0 behind Finch's two home runs and school-record 9 RBIs.
Since that road trip, Arizona has won nine of 11 games, including six straight in the Pac-10. Despite the team's recent surge - evident by its ascent in the national rankings from No. 2 to No. 1 Wednesday - Candrea said the Wildcats still need to focus on taking the necessary steps to prepare them for what lies ahead.
"We've got a long way to go," he said. "We're not trying to look too far ahead, we're just looking at the Oregon State Beavers.
With four games in three days, Candrea said a week ago, all three of his pitchers would likely see action in the circle. Finch, senior Becky Lemke (14-2, 1.02) and freshman Jenny Gladding (12-2, 0.90) are all among the nation's leaders with more than 10 strikeouts per seven innings.
Lemke is seven strikeouts away from becoming the school's all-time leader. She also needs two more wins to become the fourth pitcher with 100 career wins.
Next Game
Who: No. 14 Oregon State at No. 1 Arizona
When: Tonight at 6
Where: Hillenbrand Stadium
Tickets: Students get in free with a CatCard
