Cats Shut Out Grand Canyon Twice on Wednesday
TUCSON, Ariz. -- No. 8 Arizona Softball swept a doubleheader with Grand Canyon on Wednesday evening, defeating the Lopes, 8-0 in five innings in both games.
The wins were Arizona's second and third straight mercy shutout victories and 11th and 12 straight wins overall. The Wildcats improved to 26-5 on the season ahead of their four-game series in Tempe with No. 13 Arizona State this weekend.
Game 1: #8 Arizona 8, Grand Canyon 0 (5 innings) • Box Score
Alyssa Denham and Mariah Lopez combined to shut out Grand Canyon, while their offense supported them with eight runs on 11 hits in Arizona's 8-0, five-inning victory to start Wednesday's doubleheader.
Seven different Wildcats had hits in the game, with Malia Martinez (3-for-3), Janelle Meoño (2-for-3), Sharlize Palacios (2-for-3) and Carlie Scupin (2-for-2) all recording multiple-hit games. Palacios homered in the game, her ninth of the season and third in the last three games. Meoño's 2-for-3 day extended her hitting streak to 16 games, the longest by a Wildcat since Hallie Wilson's 19-game hitting streak in 2015. She raised her Pac-12-leading batting average to .474.
Arizona did the heavy damage in the second inning, when it scored five runs, including RBI doubles from Scupin and Isabella Dayton. UA added on single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
In the circle, Denham allowed three of the first four Antelopes to reach in the top of the first inning before settling in and dominating. In all, she pitched four scoreless innings with two strikeouts and three hits allowed. She improved to 13-4 with the win. Lopez pitched a perfect fifth inning, striking out two of the three batters she faced.
Game 2: #8 Arizona 8, Grand Canyon 0 (5 innings) • Box Score
Arizona capped off the doubleheader with another run-rule win by the exact same score, taking game 2, 8-0 in five innings.
Devyn Netz threw her first career shutout, tossing five scoreless innings on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. The freshman improved to 3-0 on the season and lowered her season ERA to 0.44 in 16.0 innings this year.
Offensively, the Cats used home runs from Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza -- a three-run first-inning homer -- and Janelle Meoño -- a solo shot in the second to put together early offense against GCU starter Ryan Denhart (7-7). Palomino-Cardoza's home run was the 67th of her career (eighth most in Arizona history), while Meoño's -- a slap home run to right -- was the first of her career. The freshman had at least one hit in both games of the doubleheader, extending her hitting streak to 17 games, the longest by a Wildcat since Hallie Wilson's 19-game hitting streak in 2015.
Reyna Carranco had an RBI double, her third RBI of the day and the 99th of her career in the first inning. Malia Martinez had a pair of RBI in the game and Carlie Scupin had an RBI single in the fifth.