By
Brett Erickson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Senior becomes UA's all-time strikeout leader; Wildcats sweep 4 games
As the top-ranked Arizona softball team continued to steamroll through its Pacific-10 Conference opponents this weekend, senior pitcher Becky Lemke stole the show.
Lemke fanned eight batters in yesterday's 6-1 victory against the Oregon Ducks to become Arizona's all-time strikeout leader with 880.
She struck out the side in the third inning to surpass former All-American Susie Parra's mark of 874, and received a curtain call from the 1,327 fans at Hillenbrand Stadium.
"It's an honor because they're have been a lot of pitchers at the U of A," said Lemke, who shares the same private pitching coach with Parra.
"She was a big stud in my eyes, and now I've broken her record, so that's cool."
Besides becoming the Wildcats' new strikeout leader, Lemke (16-2) also earned her 100th career win yesterday. She is the fourth pitcher in school history to reach the lofty plateau.
"It's really awesome - I'm just so proud of her," said her father Karl, a firefighter in Phoenix.
The milestones were impressive, but UA head coach Mike Candrea was more pleased to see his senior revert back to her early- and last-season from. Lemke began the season 11-0, but then lost close games to Louisiana-Lafayette and Washington, and has also struggled by her own standards in other conference games.
"This weekend was big because she needed a couple of good starts," Candrea said of Lemke, who also won Friday against No. 14 Oregon State. "It was good to see Becky get back on track."
Arizona (51-4 overall, 13-2 Pac-10) provided Lemke with plenty of early offensive support.
Seniors Lauren Bauer and Nicole Giordano began with infield slap singles in the bottom of the first. Freshman Leneah Manuma later delivered a one-out sacrifice fly to plate Bauer.
Arizona staged a four-run rally in the second inning that came after its first two batters were retired. Sophomore Lisha Ribellia and Bauer began the rally with consecutive slap singles to the shortstop.
Giordano followed with a two-run double to left-center field that scored both runners. Two batters later, junior Jennie Finch delivered a two-run single to score Giordano and senior Toni Mascarenas, who had walked.
Bauer finished the day 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI double in the fifth that completed Arizona's scoring.
While the Wildcats have been known for their power this season - they have already claimed the NCAA record for home runs with 104 - Manuma was the only player to go deep during the 4-0 weekend against the Oregon schools.
Manuma's shot came in Friday night's 7-1 win against the Beavers (38-18-1, 7-7).
"It's good to see us work the runs in instead of jacking them over the fence," said Ribellia, who had three hit-saving defensive plays yesterday at second base.
Saturday, Finch (23-0) blanked the Ducks (25-33, 1-14) 8-0 in a six-inning, mercy-rule game. Arizona pounded out 14 hits in the contest, including three each from senior Lindsey Collins, Bauer and Giordano. Collins also had three RBIs.
Finch was also the winner in Friday's 1-0 win against the Beavers, limiting OSU to just two hits and three base runners. Mascarenas drove in the game's lone run in the bottom of the fifth inning with a single to score Bauer.
Including both shutouts, Finch has not allowed an earned run in 61 innings against Pac-10 opponents this season.
In the nightcap Friday against OSU, Finch and freshman Kim Balkan each drove in two runs as the Wildcats cruised to a 7-1 win. Lemke struck out four and gave up six hits to earn her 99th career win.
With the four wins, Arizona has now won 41 straight contests at home, four shy of the team's all-time record of 45.
The Wildcats, who are two games ahead of No. 2 UCLA for first place in the Pac-10, travel to the Bay Area this weekend to play No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 California.
