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Softball team eyes national championship

UA sweeps Washington, UCLA

With only three regular season games remaining, and coming off a sweep of the first and third ranked teams in the nation, the UA softball team now finds itself as a favorite to win the NCAA Softball National Championship.

"Obviously we are playing well and you wouldn't want it any other way," UA head coach Mike Candrea said. "Our goal is to win a national championship."

For a team that won five national championships in the 1990s, a two-year gap between championships can seem like an eternity. But after defeating top-ranked Washington for the first time this season, 3-2, on Friday and sweeping two games from No. 3 UCLA, 12-9, 9-1 on Saturday and Sunday, No. 2 Arizona is primed for its championship run.

"Hopefully we are hitting our peak," senior right fielder Chrissy Gil. "We are showing potential of being national champions."

With only Stanford and California left on the regular season schedule, the Wildcats (50-7 overall, 13-4 Pacific 10 Conference) will likely host regionals at Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium and will have a strong chance at being the top-ranked team in the country when the NFCA/USA Today national rankings come out today.

A big reason for Arizona's successful weekend was the resurgence of their offense, which exploded for 24 runs against the Huskies and Bruins after scoring only 22 runs in their previous nine games.

Junior left fielder Lauren Bauer had the most impressive single game performance of the year for the UA, Saturday, against UCLA when she went 6 for 6 with seven RBI and three runs.

Bauer's breakout performance was spurred on by a cocky Bruins team.

"I had a lot of adrenaline and UCLA was talking a lot," Bauer said.

The junior left fielder was the main force behind UA's eight-run comeback victory against the Bruins.

The Wildcats didn't need a comeback on Sunday as a three-run homer by junior catcher Lindsey Collins and a grand slam by junior third baseman Toni Mascarenas gave Arizona a comfortable lead, which led to the five inning mercy rule victory.

"It kind of shows that we have peaked, we are prepared," senior second baseman Katie Swan said. "It is just so exciting."

Perhaps the biggest confidence booster of the season was the win against Washington who had defeated UA four times earlier in the season.

"We all knew we could beat them and we all felt that we could beat them and we finally did," Swan said. "It was good to get it in the record books."

Candrea agreed.

"It was big, it was huge, we needed to prove ourselves," Candrea said. "They have proved to me this weekend they have a lot of character."

Junior shortstop Allison Andrade, Collins and sophomore pitcher/first baseman Jennie Finch each hit solo homers to provide the offense for the Wildcats.

Finch's performance in the circle though was just as dominate as her offensive power as she limited the Huskies to only two runs on four hits while striking out eight.

"We could face either team in the final game," Gil said of the weekend's opponents. "Hopefully we are hitting our peak."

With the offense finding its stride, Arizona is in good shape behind the pitching of junior Becky Lemke and Finch.

With her two wins this past weekend, Finch increased her record to an outstanding 24-2, while Lemke's victory against UCLA gave her a team leading 26 wins.

"To be a good ball team, pitching is 99 percent of the team," Swan said.

The pitching duo has a combined for a 1.06 ERA with 26 shutouts on the season.

Even with the pitching, fielding and batting hitting on all cylinders, Candrea is apprehensive to look past the final Pac-10 games against Stanford and California.

"They haven't handed out any rings yet, so we can't celebrate yet," he said.

Chris Martin can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.

InfoBox

hedder: Up Next

May 12, at Stanford

May 13, at California (2 games)

May 19-21, NCAA Regionals, site TBA

May 25-29, NCAA Softball World Series, Oklahoma City