Harper Reaches 80 Career Homers in 8-0 Victory
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Jessie Harper homered twice, career homers No. 79 and 80, and drove in six as Arizona got back in the W column, beating Florida A&M, 8-0 in five innings on Wednesday in Tallahassee.
Arizona scored eight runs on eight hits to support a two-hit shutout thrown by a trio of Wildcat pitchers. Hanah Bowen (2.0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 3 K, 0 BB), Devyn Netz (2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 3 K, 1 BB) and Jessie Fontes (1.0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 K, 0 BB) combined for the gem. They teamed up to strike out eight of the 18 batters they faced and allowed just three baserunners on the day. Netz (2-0) picked up the win in relief.
In the first inning, Harper and Mulipola hit back-to-back solo homers to give the Wildcats the early 2-0 lead.
In the second, with the bases loaded and two out, Harper homered again, a grand slam to left-center, the 80th home run in her Arizona career, making her the 11th player in NCAA history -- and fifth Wildcat -- to hit 80 career home runs. She has four this season.
In the fourth, the Cats added two more when Harper finished off her 3-for-3 day with an RBI single, good for a career-most six RBI. Sharlize Palacios then grounded into an RBI fielder's choice to give the Cats the 8-0 cushion.
With the win, Arizona improved to 13-1 in advance of its three-game series at Florida State, starting on Thursday in Tallahassee. The second-ranked Wildcats and the 15th-ranked Seminoles will meet Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 4 p.m. MST in a series televised by the ACC Network Plus.
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