Softball sweeps Fall Classic

In yesterday's final day of the Fall Classic, the Wildcats completed a sweep of the exhibition tournament with wins over Cypress Community College, 10-2, and Pima Community College, 14-0 in five innings.

The two victories rounded out a solid effort for the Wildcats.

On Saturday, Arizona defeated New Mexico, 8-0, and Central Arizona Community College, 3-0.

Freshman pitcher Alicia Hollowell led the way for Arizona in the first game against New Mexico. In five innings, Hollowell had eight strikeouts and two hits.

Junior Mackenzie Vandergeest helped put Arizona up 6-0 in the fourth inning with a grand slam to right field, her second grand slam of the weekend.

Against Central Arizona, the Wildcats were led by junior pitcher Wendy Allen. Allen had four strikeouts and gave up four hits in seven innings pitched. Freshman Autumn Champion was 2-for-4 with one run. Freshman Samantha Quintero was 2-for-3 with one run.

In the first day of the invitational, Arizona tallied a 9-0 win over New Mexico Highlands and a 14-3 win over Arizona Western.

In the first game, against New Mexico Highlands, the Wildcats were led by freshman pitcher Leslie Wolfe, who had six strikeouts and only gave up one hit.

The Wildcats scored six of their nine runs in the second inning. With the bases loaded, Vandergeest hit a home run to put the Cats up 7-0. Vandergeest hit three grand slams last season. The final two runs came in the third inning by Champion and senior Lisha Ribellia.

In the second game against Arizona Western, all but two Wildcats managed to score runs. UA scored nine runs in the sixth inning, including a home run by sophomore Candace Abrams. Freshman pitcher Ashley Monceaux pitched the first four innings and was later relieved by Hollowell after Monceaux gave up three runs and seven hits.

Cross Country impresses over weekend at ASU Invitational

The UA men's and women's cross country teams took the field at the ASU Invitational by storm Friday afternoon.

The Arizona men finished a surprising second behind the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal. The team scored 44 points to finish ahead of the No. 23 Arizona State Sun Devils, who finished third. The women finished fourth with 112 points and finished ahead of the No. 17 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, who finished sixth.

The men's team was led by junior Mark Anderson, who placed second, just three seconds off of the lead. Anderson completed the 8,000-meter race in 24:17, his fastest 8,000m time this season.

The second Wildcat finisher was sophomore Josh Ludwig in ninth place. Ludwig finished with a time of 24:50. He was followed by junior Wade Juntunen (18th, 25:29) and junior Eric Bohn (19th, 25:30).

The final scoring Wildcat was junior Craig Pansing, who finished 22nd in 25:49. Redshirt freshman Aaron Powell finished the race in 26:04 to claim 25th place. Freshmen Ryan Irwin and Al Eder finished 41st and 42nd, respectively. Irwin crossed the line at 27:08, while Eder clocked a 27:10 on the course.

Freshman Adrienne Goeller led the UA women, finishing 15th on the 5,000-meter course in 18:55.

Goeller was followed by redshirt freshman Michi Hirakawa-Wong. She finished the race in 19:37 to claim 25th place.