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Arizona Daily Wildcat April 4, 1997
UA softball faces 3rd-straight top five opponent at Hillenbrand
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Karen C. Tully
Senior pitcher Nancy Evans hurls a pitch in the Wildcats' game against Stanford last month. Arizona starts its doubleheader against the Huskies tonight at 6 at Hillenbrand Stadium.
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Most softball teams would avoid scheduling three of the top five programs in the nation in succession. Of course, No. 1 ranked Arizona is not like most teams, and as such they lined up No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Washington (24-6 overall, 0-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference) and No. 2 Fresno State ( 34-5 overall, 11-3 in the Western Athletic Conference) one after the other. They split a two-game set with the Bruins and will play a doubleheader against the Huskies tonight at 6 p.m. at Hillenbrand Stadium.
"I think that's what prepares you," UA head coach Mike Candrea said about the schedule. "I think you need to be tested before you go walking into the College World Series."
The weather forecast predicts rain over the weekend, which would favor the Huskies as it would make things feel like home in Seattle. However, the games may be cancelled as several games were during the Hillenbrand Invitational. Washington has already had to cancel doubleheaders with Oregon and Oregon State due to rain.
Washington has been on a tear of late. After losing to Oklahoma in the PONY Invitational they reeled off four wins against DePaul, UNLV and Loyola Marymount. Of their six losses, one came at the hands of the Wildcats back in February at the Wildcat Invitational.
The Huskies are led by their pitching staff. Eve Gaw, Jamie Graves and Jennifer Spediacci have a combined ERA of 2.06 and are ranked third in the Pac-10. Spediacci has an 0.73 ERA and is ranked second in individual pitching behind Arizona's Nancy Evans. However, Spediacci has only pitched 47.2 innings compared to Evans' 101. Gaw was the Huskies' ace in 1996, but was sidelined early this season by injury. Since returning to the circle she is 8-8 with 57 strike outs.
Tonight's games will be a rematch of last year's College World Series final when Arizona beat the Huskies, 6-4 to win the National Championship.
A mere 43 hours after they play the Huskies, the Wildcats will be in Fresno playing the Bulldogs. The doubleheader will be a rematch of the Wildcat's heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the Bulldogs at Hillenbrand Stadium last season.
Arizona will look to the bat of Alison Johnson and the arm of Evans to bring home a victory. Johnson leads the Pac-10 in hits, runs, RBI and stolen bases, as well as leading in individual batting with a .488 average. Evans leads the Pac-10 with a 16-0 record and a 0.62 ERA.
