Top-ranked softball falls in extra innings

The No. 1 UA softball team suffered its first Pac-10 loss of the season and its second loss overall 1-0 against Oregon yesterday in Eugene.

With the game scoreless after seven innings, junior designated player Crystal Farley led off the eighth inning with a single for the Wildcats (45-2, 9-1 Pacific 10 Conference), but Oregon ace Ani Nyhus retired the next three batters. [Read article]

The Arizona baseball team blew a four-run lead in the ninth inning and gave up a walk-off home run yesterday to lose the final game of a three-game set 12-11 at Washington.

Washington second baseman Greg Isaacson hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning yesterday in Seattle. It marked the first time this season the Wildcats were swept by a Pac-10 opponent.

Arizona (21-18-1, 5-7 Pacific 10 Conference) lost the series opener on Friday 6-1 and dropped Saturday's contest 7-6 to the Huskies. [Read article]

Pat Tillman's death seems like a microcosm of Sept. 11, 2001 here in Arizona. In the weeks that followed the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the entire nation - Republicans, Democrats and independents - came together. Congress sang "God Bless America" on the steps of Capitol Hill in the ultimate symbol of political unity.

It didn't last long, but it didn't have to - just long enough for the pain to subside. [Read article]

Chapman entered Tucson on Saturday looking for revenge against the Arizona men's lacrosse team.

Thanks to their big guns on offense, the Laxcats left the Panthers on the outside looking in for the rest of the postseason.

Junior attackman Adam Paris scored a season-high-tying six goals and added an assist for the Laxcats, who rode 26 frontline points to defeat Chapman 19-9 in the quarterfinal round of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League playoffs. [Read article]

In a tournament where team results didn't matter but individual accomplishments could put Arizona on the tennis map, the Wildcat men's tennis team was able to gain respect but couldn't overcome later-round competition.

Junior Colin O'Grady and sophomore Roger Matalonga both defeated their first-round opponents but had to bow out in the second round.

O'Grady battled higher-ranked Sven Swinnen of Oregon in the first round, and after a hard-fought, three-set match, O'Grady came out on top 7-6, 6-7, 7-6. [Read article]

The Arizona women's tennis team got another standout performance from its top player at this weekend's Pac-10 Championships, claiming semifinal berths in both the singles and doubles brackets thanks to the play of Dianne Hollands.

The junior, who was ranked No. 14 entering the tournament, took her first two singles matches in straight sets.

"Dianne played excellent," assistant coach Petar Danolic said. "She had a great tournament." [Read article]

The Arizona track and field teams capitalized on an ideal setting - perfect weather and a crowd of more than 18,000 fans - to fare well in the prestigious Drake Relays over the weekend.

"(The weather) was fantastic," said UA head coach Fred Harvey of the conditions in Des Moines, Iowa. "We had probably about mid-60-degree-type weather with light wind. It was very nice. We came prepared for anything. If it was going to rain, we brought equipment for that as well." [Read article]