Arizona flexes its muscles in victories

Gregory Harris Arizona Daily Wildcat UA second baseman Katie Swan, makes a play from her knee in Saturday's game against Cal State-Northridge at Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium. The Wildcats won the game in come from behind fashion 16-6. The Wildcats swept both Northridge and UCLA over the weekend.

The UA center fielder - who already leads the Pacific 10 Conference with a .510 average - smacked two home runs on Saturday night, the second of which gave the Wildcats a 5-3 lead en route to a 16-6 victory over Cal State-Northridge at Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium.

"It's just as surprising to me as it is to you, to tell you the truth," Johnsen said.

But perhaps not as surprising to her coach. When asked about Johnsen, UA head coach Mike Candrea simply replied, "Phenomenal."

The 16-6 win followed up a 4-3 win in which the Wildcats (42-4, 14-1) used a double by freshman Katie Swan and a single by Leah O'Brien to get the victory in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"Last night, we came out on all cylinders," Candrea said of his team's Friday night sweep of UCLA. "Sure, maybe there was a little bit of an emotional letdown."

The second game got off to a rocky start for UA. Pitcher Carrie Dolan gave up a three-run home run to Northridge catcher Jennifer Parker in the top of the first inning. Dolan, who has had some rocky outings of late, knew a change had to be made.

"I just threw a couple of stupid pitches," she said. "After that I changed my game plan a bit."

Dolan settled herself down, while her teammates warmed up. UA scored 11 runs in the first two innings and Dolan was allowed to breathe a little easier. The Wildcats got two runs in the bottom of the first, then exploded for nine in the second.

"It's a treat pitching for this team," Dolan said. "It gives you a lot of confidence because we score a lot of runs."

Thirteen UA batters went to the plate in the second and put on a hitting display for the 1,758 in attendance. Right fielder Brandy Shriver had a double and a triple in the inning. Johnsen added a single to her two-run homer later in the inning.

"Offensively, I was very, very pleased," Candrea said. "Thank goodness we scored a lot of runs."

The offensive production in the second Northridge (26-16-2) game was basically a carry-over from Friday night's sweep of UCLA. The Wildcats scored 21 runs on 25 hits in the doubleheader.

The Wildcats run-ruled highly-touted Bruin freshman Christa Williams in the first game, which ended on a two-run homer by sophomore Lisa Pitt. Pitt provided the heroics in the second game as well. Trailing 6-3 in the fifth after Dolan gave up a grand slam to Bruin Alleah Poulson, the Wildcats mounted a comeback. Lety Pineda's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded made it a 6-4 game, then Pitt stepped to the plate. With the count 2-1, Pitt launched the ball over the 220 sign in center field to the give the UA a lead it would never relinquish on its way to a 10-6 win.

"I haven't had too good of an experience against them," Pitt said. "I don't think they were very scared of me."

Nancy Evans got the win in both games of the doubleheader. She started the first game and held the Bruins (32-10, 12-6) to just two hits then got the win in relief of Dolan in the second.

Meanwhile, Leah Braatz-Cochrane provided the punch for the Wildcats. After sending a Williams fastball into the left field bleachers, Braatz-Cochrane took the time to wave the ball good-bye as it traveled over the fence. After the three-run home run, Williams came unglued, giving up four runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth.