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Wildcats fall short of championship

Arizona Summer Wildcat

Eventual national champ Oklahoma eliminates UA in semi-

Despite delivering two of her best pitching performances of the year, UA junior pitcher Becky Lemke came away empty handed with two 1-0 losses to Oklahoma and Southern Mississippi

The defeats ended Arizona's run in the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. After reaching the championship game in eight straight seasons, the Wildcats failed to reach the finals for the second straight year.

Oklahoma, the eventual national champion, scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Big 12 Conference Player of the Year Lisa Carey hit a solo shot off Lemke.

"It's terrible," senior second baseman Katie Swan told the Arizona Sports Information Department. "I feel awful. We just couldn't get that run to come through to home,"

Lemke was out-pitched by Southern Mississippi's All American pitcher, Courtney Blades. Golden Eagles' ace threw a perfect game and appeared to leave UA hitters baffled.

Despite allowing only one earned run in 14 innings, Lemke was unable to find any support as the Wildcats (59-9 overall, 16-4 Pacific 10 Conference) offense was stalled.

UA battled back after the opening loss against Southern Mississippi by defeating California 6-0 and then eliminating top seeded Washington 4-2 behind the pitching of sophomore Jennie Finch.

"That was big, it was a very emotional day for us," Arizona head coach Mike Candrea said about defeating the Huskies.

Even though the team finished short of capturing their sixth national championship, Candrea was very pleased with his team's performance and effort throughout the season.

"I think this team played their butts off," he said. "We did some remarkable things this year."

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