Before Sunday鈥檚 Tucson Regional championship game, Arizona had scored all it鈥檚 runs of the weekend on RBI singles. Arizona hadn鈥檛 sent one over the wall in its first 60 plate appearances of the regional.
But that changed Sunday.
In their third and final game of the weekend, the Wildcats鈥 bats mixed it up and played both the short and long game to beat Auburn for a second time in as many days 鈥 this time 12-3 鈥 and secure a Super Regional spot.
鈥淲e鈥檙e one step closer to where we want to be,鈥 coach Mike Candrea said. 鈥淕ood performance today.鈥
The No. 6-seeded Wildcats (45-12) will host No. 11 Mississippi (41-18) in the best-of-three Super Regional this week at Hillenbrand Stadium. The winner of that series will earn one of the eight berths in the Women鈥檚 College World Series.
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On the way to the dominating win over the Tigers on Sunday, Jessie Harper had her first career three-homer game. The junior shortstop was perfect at the plate, going 5 for 5, with five RBIs.
Her NCAA-leading 28th homer of the year in the seventh inning moved her into a tie for fourth place in Arizona history, and is the most since Stacie Chambers hit 31 in 2009.
Harper鈥檚 three-homer game ties an Arizona record and is the first since Hallie Wilson did so against Stanford in 2015.
When asked what she鈥檚 seeing at the plate, Harper had a simple answer: 鈥渢he ball.鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 not really going out there looking for anything in particular, I鈥檓 just kind of going for something to strike,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 pretty known for hitting balls that are not necessarily the best, kind of out of the zone, but it was working today and I was feeding off my teammates. We were getting solid hits 1 through 9 today 鈥 and last night when we played them. They just weren鈥檛 falling last night and that鈥檚 where we kind of got in trouble a little bit.鈥
After two scoreless innings, Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza got the scoring started for Arizona, who played as the visiting team, with an RBI single to center field. Harper followed up with her first homer of the game to make the score 3-0.
Auburn responded in the following frame with an RBI triple, an RBI groundout and a solo home run to tie the game at 3.
However, the Wildcats weren鈥檛 fazed and went on to have a six-run fourth inning to take charge.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the best feeling ever as a pitcher, is when you make a couple of mistakes and your teammates come back the next inning and double the amount of runs 鈥 six runs,鈥 starting pitcher Alyssa Denham said.
鈥淚t shows how much they fight for all of us and it just gave me so much more confidence from there on out because I knew my teammates had my back.鈥
Denham allowed four hits and three runs while striking out 10 and walking one in her first postseason appearance this year. Ace Taylor McQuillin took care of the circle in the first two regional games.
Throughout the offensive showcase, Arizona forced Auburn to make a couple pitching changes. The Tigers started Lexie Handley, put in Chardonnay Harris during the third inning and then brought Handley back in the sixth.
Harris was tagged with the loss, allowing seven hits and seven runs (four earned) while walking one and only striking out one batter in 2潞 innings pitched. In 4陋 innings pitched, Handley allowed seven hits and five runs (four earned), walked three and struck out four.
While Candrea believes the team is playing pretty good at the moment, the key to the Wildcats鈥 success comes down to their mindset. And it鈥檚 been better than it has been in a long time, Candrea said.
Last week, before the UCLA series, Candrea talked to the team about butterflies.
It鈥檚 OK to have butterflies and be nervous, but the important part is to make sure the butterflies are in formation. And Candrea said the team really bought into that mentality.
鈥淟ike today 鈥 we scored three, we gave up three 鈥 but we kept playing, we kept playing hard,鈥 Candrea said. 鈥淚鈥檝e liked the progress that we鈥檝e seen with our pitchers in big moments, but more importantly,
鈥淚鈥檝e like our defense. I haven鈥檛 seen the game get quick on us for a while and next week will be a challenge 鈥 it always is.
鈥淎t least right now I feel pretty good that we鈥檙e good physically, mentally and emotionally 鈥 and I think that鈥檚 the three things you have to control at this point of the game.鈥
Contact reporter Norma Gonzalez at 520-262-3265 or ngonzalez@tucson.com.
Norma Gonzalez
Sports reporter
