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UA warms up with Cal-State Northridge

Wildcats make up rain delayed game

The Arizona softball team makes a brief detour today on their West Coast road trip against Pacific 10 Conference foes UCLA and Washington with a stop in Northridge, Calif., to play Cal-State Northridge.

The game was originally scheduled on March 9, but bad weather conditions forced the game to be postponed.

No. 2 UA defeated the Matadors 6-0 earlier in the season at the Kia Klassic in Fullerton, Calif., on March 18. Junior pitcher Becky Lemke was outstanding as she held Cal-State Northridge to just one hit in seven innings.

One of the key factors for the Wildcats (42-4 overall, 6-1 Pac-10) is not to look past Cal-State Northridge (21-16-1) with important Pac-10 games against the No. 3 Bruins and No. 1 Huskies this weekend.

"We can't look ahead of Northridge, we can' t take them lightly," said senior second baseman Katie Swan. "Coach (Mike Candrea) is just telling us it is going to be a tough week and just to be road warriors."

Sophomore pitcher Jennie Finch will be in the circle for UA and will be trying to continue her perfect season as she is currently 20-0 on the season.

Finch leads the team with a 0.57 ERA with 11 shutouts and 145 strikeouts.

Arizona is seeking to regain its momentum after losing to Stanford on Sunday, 4-3, in eight innings. The loss was the first conference loss for the Wildcats this season.

To get back on track, UA will rely heavily upon its offense which has been getting production from all spots in the order.

Junior center fielder Nicole Giordano leads the Arizona attack with a team-high .481 batting average. She also leads the team in hits (75), runs (40) and on base percentage (.532).

The main run producer for UA has been junior catcher Lindsey Collins, who has 11 home runs and 48 RBIs with a .375 batting average.

Junior shortstop Allison Andrade said the team needs to "basically keep playing the way we have been playing, just play Arizona softball."