Arizona's Dolan tosses no-hitter in Classics win

Arizona Daily Wildcat Carrie Dolan

With little preparation and even less sleep, the No. 1 Wildcats arrived in Lafayette and went on to triumph in the tournament with five straight wins.

"I think we had kind of a bumpy trip, but the kids handled it well," UA head coach Mike Candrea said.

The Wildcats won all of their games on Saturday and went on to beat Alabama, 13-0 and Baylor, 10-0 in run-rule shortened games on Sunday.

The host team, No. 7 Southwest Louisiana was defeated by Baylor in the semifinals of the round-robin tournament. USL was expected to make it to the final game.

"I was expecting to play USL, but they were beat twice by Baylor," Candrea said. "Baylor is good. They are a real scrappy team."

Sunday's victories were due to a combination of explosive offense and tough pitching. Pitchers Carrie Dolan (8-0) and Nancy Evans (7-0) allowed a total of three hits on Sunday and allowed 12 in the entire tournament. Dolan threw her third career no-hitter in Arizona's opening round against Alabama. She threw the last Arizona no-hitter against Texas A&M on March 24, 1995.

"I thought our pitching was good," Candrea said.

"It's true that a team is only as good as its pitching. I was excited about both of our pitchers. Nancy threw well and Carrie threw well."

The Arizona offense was lead by center fielder Alison Johnson, who had 11 hits in 18 at-bats (.611), driving in seven runs with two triples, while also stealing two bases. Her .526 average leads the team.

Catcher Leah Braatz-Cochrane and third baseman Lety Pineda continue to hit the long-ball. Braatz-Cochrane. Both players had a homer in the final game against Baylor, Braatz-Cochrane now has six home runs while Pineda has eight.

Arizona has scored 140 runs so far this year, 21 of which are from home runs. In the tournament they collected 53 hits, adding to their previous total of 124.

"We were there to play," Candrea said. "At this stage they are all good teams, but we need to worry about how we play."

Arizona has extended their school-record winning-streak to 32 games. The last game they lost was against California on April 27 of last year.