THE GAMES (Times MST)
43 | Thursday, April 18 |
7,
0 |
Recap |
Box Score
44 | Friday, April 19 |
9,
1 (5 inn.) |
Recap |
Box Score
45 | Saturday, April 19 (12 p.m.) |
vs.
|
Live Stream |
Live Stats |
Twitter Updates |
Tickets | Radio: 1400 AM
WEEKLY NOTES
THIS WEEK: Seventh-ranked Arizona (35-7, 12-0 Pac-12) is set to return home and return to Pac-12 play this week, after spending the last two weeks on the road, including a three-game series at Grand Canyon last weekend during its Pac-12 bye. The Wildcats welcome Stanford (30-7, 7-2 Pac-12) to Tucson for a key three-game series. Arizona, which has won 11 straight games vs. Stanford at Hillenbrand Stadium, looks to make it 10 straight series wins over the Cardinal after taking 2-of-3 last year in Palo Alto. Due to Easter Sunday, the Wildcats and Cardinal will meet Thursday (6 p.m.), Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (12 p.m.) this week.
LEADING OFF
- After two weeks on the road, No. 7 Arizona returns to Hillenbrand Stadium this weekend to host Stanford in a Thursday-Saturday series in UA's return to Pac-12 play after sweeping Grand Canyon in a three-game series during UA's Pac-12 bye week.
- UA rides a 17-game winning streak into its Pac-12 bye week, its longest winning streak since winning 26 in-a-row in 2017. Included in the 17-game winning streak are four Pac-12 sweeps, giving the Cats their third best start in UA's conference history, joining 2017 (13-0) and 1994 (23-0). During Arizona's 14-game winning streak, Arizona is outscoring its opponents 152-14.
- During UA's 17-game winning streak, UA's pitchers have allowed just nine earned runs and have thrown nine shutouts. The pitchers have a 0.61 ERA over the 17-game winning streak and are fifth in the NCAA with a 1.46 ERA this season.
- Over that 17-game period, UA's opponents have a total of 11 RBI. During the same stretch, six different individual Wildcats have more than 11 RBI, led by Malia Martinez, who has 29 RBI over her 53 at-bats in the span.
- The Wildcats lead the country in home runs (81), already surpassing their 2018 total of 75 that was sixth most in the country. The 81 home runs exceed the number of total runs that UA's pitchers have allowed all season (74).
- Junior shortstop Jessie Harper is tied for the NCAA lead with a career-most 21 home runs. She is 10th in UA history with 58 for her career, two away from becoming the fourth Wildcat in school history to hit her 60th career home run during her junior year (the other three are all in the top 6 in NCAA history in career home runs).
- Arizona's offense is top 10 in the NCAA in home runs per game (1st - 1.93), slugging percentage (2nd - .627), batting average (7th - .341), scoring (7th - 7.31) and on-base percentage (9th - .421).
- Arizona's pitching staff is fifth in the country in ERA (1.46) and sixth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.39).
- The UA pitching staff is led by Taylor McQuillin, who is 15-5 (including nine shutouts) this season with a 1.28 ERA. This week, McQuillin was the sixth overall selection in the 2019 NPF Draft by the Cleveland Comets.
- In 12 games, the Wildcats have outscored their Pac-12 opponents 114-11 and have a Pac-12-best 0.71 ERA in league games. Arizona's 114 runs scored already eclipse its 2018 24-game total of 93 runs scored.
- Dating back to last season, Arizona has won seven consecutive Pac-12 series after its four sweeps to open conference play this season.
- Arizona has won 31 of its last 34 games, with its only three losses in that span coming to the current No. 1 (Oklahoma) and No. 4 (Florida State) ranked teams in the country by a combined four runs.
- The Wildcats are seventh in both this week's NCAA RPI, a metric heavily relied on for NCAA Tournament, seeding and the NFCA Top 25.
- Through 42 games, Arizona has played 13 games against ranked opponents and has a 8-5 record in those games. All five losses are to top-six opponents. Despite the 1-5 record, in six games vs. (current rankings) No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida State, No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Florida, UA has been outscored by just two runs (21-23) and has 11 more hits (40-29).
- Arizona is the only team in the country with four players with double-digit home runs this season: Jessie Harper (21), Dejah Mulipola (17), Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza (13) and Malia Martinez (11). Only five other schools have three players with 10+ home runs. UA's junior class (5 hitters) has combined for 66 home runs. That total would rank seventh in the country if they were their own team.
- Arizona's offense has been heating up with the weather. Since the calendar turned to March (last 27 games), Arizona has averaged 8.41 runs/game and is hitting 2.07 home runs per game after scoring 5.33 runs and hitting 1.67 homers per game in February (15 games).
- Arizona head coach Mike Candrea enters the weekend two wins shy of Michigan's Carol Hutchins for the most career wins in NCAA softball history. Candrea, who is in his 32nd year of coaching at Arizona, has won 1,598 wins while Hutchins has 1,600 over 36 seasons of coaching. Earlier this year, Candrea moved into fifth all-time in NCAA Division I victories among all sports.
NOTES ON THE CARDINAL (30-7, 7-2 Pac-12)
- Stanford is 30-7 this season, off to its best start since 2010, while its 7-2 conference record is its best since 2005.
- Stanford has already defeated three teams currently ranked in the NFCA Top 25 (#9 LSU, #22 Michigan, #23 Northwestern).
- The Cardinal is receiving the 26th most votes in this week's NFCA Top 25 and is ranked #24 in the USA Softball poll. Stanford comes in at No. 26 in the NCAA RPI.
- Stanford has won 11 of its last 14 games since the start of Pac-12 play, including a series win vs. Utah last weekend in Palo Alto.
- The Cardinal has a 2.47 team ERA, led by Kiana Pancino's 2.20 mark; she is 7-0 with eight saves this season.
- Teaghan Cowles leads the Stanford offense, hitting a team-best .419 with and leads Stanford in doubles (9), triples (5) and home runs (5).
ARIZONA vs. STANFORD
- The Wildcats hold a 76-12-1 all-time series advantage over Stanford.
- Arizona has won the last 10 series vs. Stanford, including a 2-to-1 series win in Palo Alto last season.
- The Cats have swept the Cardinal each of the last three series at Hillenbrand Stadium and have won 10 straight overall at home.
- Last season, Arizona won a pair of pitcher's duels in games 1 and 2 before falling in extras in the last game of the regular season at Stanford in game 3.
- The Cats had a 0.65 ERA in the series last year, led by Alyssa Denham, who threw a three-hit shutout in game 2.
