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The Arizona Wildcats will finish their preconference slate this weekend at the Hillenbrand Invitational before a short week leading into the Big 12 opener against BYU. The group of teams coming to Hillenbrand Stadium isn’t as stacked as the opening weekend or last week’s road trip to the DeMarini Invitational. It will give UA a chance to work on some things, though.
Eastern Illinois Panthers
Record and schedule to date: The Panthers are 4-11 so far this season. The record has not come against a strong list of opponents, either. Their toughest game was against Southeastern Louisiana, which is currently the first team on the “others receiving votes” list of the NFCA poll. The Lady Lions run-ruled EIU 11-0 in five innings.
Players to watch: The Panthers have two players hitting .300 or better. Catcher Lexie Griffin hits .333 with a .940 OPS. She’s the team leader with two home runs, four doubles, and 10 RBI. Outfielder Marybeth Dyson sits at .311 with a .637 OPS. She leads the team with 14 hits.
The team has struggled in the circle. The best ERA from a pitcher with more than one inning of work belongs to Grace Lemke at 3.00. She also leads in WHIP at 1.63, but that comes in just 11.2 innings pitched. Bryanna French is the leader in IP with 35. She pairs that with a 5.60 ERA and 2.03 WHIP. Batters hit .322 against her.
When: Arizona and EIU play on Thursday at 6 p.m. MST.
How to follow along: The game will stream on ESPN+. Stats are available at Arizona Live Stats.
Long Beach State Beach
Record and schedule to date: The Beach are 9-6 this year with really inconsistent results. They narrowly beat Utah Tech at home then went and defeated Oklahoma at the Mary Nutter Classic. They have losses to Arizona’s conference mates from Utah and BYU, as well. It’s tough to know which Beach team will show up on any given day.
Players to watch: The Beach have five players hitting above .300. Two of them hit over .400. They also have two players with OPS over 1.000.
The top bat probably belongs to infielder Priscilla Iniguez. She is hitting .400 with an OPS of 1.074. She leads the team with 20 hits and three home runs.
Also hitting better than .400 is Malayna Terrones at .432.
Avery Weisbrook leads the team with 14 runs scored and seven walks. She is second with 11 RBI and hits .356. She has two doubles, one triple, and two home runs.
The Beach have used five pitchers this year. Four have pitched double-digit innings with Isabella Alonso’s 32 IP leading the way. In that group of four, Alonso leads with a 3.50 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and .246 BAA.
When: Arizona and LBSU face off twice this weekend. The first game is Friday, Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. MST. They wrap up the Hillenbrand Invitational on Sunday, Mar. 1 at 11:30 A.M.
How to follow along: Both the Friday and Sunday games will be streamed on ESPN+. They will also be on Live Stats both Friday and Sunday.
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Record and schedule to date: The Golden Gophers are 6-9 in the early going. They have played a schedule with several Power 4 teams, including Big 12 team Iowa State. Other major conference teams include Oklahoma and Kentucky out of the SEC. They have lost all three of those games with both the Sooners and the Wildcats dismissing them in five innings by the run rule.
Players to watch:Tara Wolocko, Lucy Hooper, and Scarlett Kuhn all hit over .300, although Kuhn has only appeared in 10 of the team’s 15 games. Still, getting 15 hits in 30 at-bats is nothing to sneeze at.
Wolocko leads the team with six home runs and 14 RBI. The home runs make up exactly half of the team’s total. She’s a true utility player, much like former Wildcats Devyn Netz and Miranda Stoddard. While her pitching numbers aren’t on the level of those two Arizona standouts, Wolocko has been in the lineup at third base, pitcher, and designated player this season. She is listed as a catcher/utility player.
In addition to Wolocko, the Gophers have used four other pitchers. The most effective is Sydney Schwartz, who may have the best numbers of any regular pitcher in the tournament’s field. She has a 2.54 ERA in nine appearances with three starts. She went the distance in all three starts. She has 48 strikeouts in 41.1 IP and is holding opponents to a .224 BAA.
When: The Wildcats and Gophers face off in the second game of Arizona’s Friday doubleheader. That game will get started 30 minutes after the first Long Beach State game, but it is officially scheduled for 7 p.m. MST on Friday, Feb. 27.
How to follow along: The game will stream on ESPN+. In-game stats are available at Arizona Live Stats.
Howard Bison
Record and schedule to date: The Bison spent their first couple of weeks playing other HBCUs, including playing week two at the HBCU Collegiate Invitational. Last week they went to Baton Rouge to play in LSU’s tournament and gave the hometown Tigers all they could handle. The top 20 home team beat the Bison 1-0. Howard also faced off against perennial mid-major power Louisiana and Michigan State twice each. They lost all five of those games, but they went the distance and the pitching kept the Bison within striking distance.
Players to watch: Howard has five players with qualifying numbers who hit .300 or better. They have two more who don’t meet the NCAA threshold but are putting the bat on the ball when they get their chances.
Taylor Ames-Alexander is the most fearsome bat in the lineup. She hits .333 and has a 1.074 OPS. She has two doubles, one triple, and a team-high three home runs. Her 15 RBI lead the team by nine over the next-best number in the Howard dugout. She has seven walks and one HBP to level out her eight strikeouts.
Howard has three pitchers with at least 19 IP. All have solid ERA and WHIP, but Destiny Calloway leads the way for her bullpen. The senior sports a 2.95 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 19.0 IP.
The bigger name for Arizona fans is Julia Holt. The senior out of Canyon del Oro in the Tucson suburbs is the daughter of former UA football player Julius Holt. She is second on the team with 27.0 IP. She has a 3.11 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. Her 0.79 strikeouts per IP rank first on the team among pitchers with more than 10 innings of work.
How to follow along: The game will be streamed on ESPN+. Stats will be on Arizona Live Stats.
Notes
- All Hillenbrand Invitational games that do not feature the Arizona Wildcats can be streamed on FloSoftball. Flo requires a subscription.
- Arizona’s game against BYU on Friday, Mar. 6 has been moved up to 3 p.m. MST. The streaming setup with ESPN+ only allows one stream from Hillenbrand Stadium and McKale Center at the same time. The Arizona GymCats are set to host ASU in McKale on Mar. 6 at 6 p.m., so the softball game was shifted to allow both events to stream.