By AMBER ALBRECHT
Softball’s national powerhouse, Arizona, added another win to their record, and BYU grabbed hold of some nice experience this weekend as the softball team fell to the Wildcats 2-0 and 10-0 Saturday in Tucson.
Top-ranked Arizona improved its record to 27-1 while BYU dropped to 7-8 overall, and remained winless against ranked opponents.
“They’re the No. 1 team in the nation and they have 21 years of experience behind them as a softball program while we have seven months,” said first baseman Julie Wallace. “We came out playing our best, we made a few errors that we’ll work on in practice this week, but it was really a great experience for us, and I think we’re looking at it as a positive thing.”
In game one, pitcher Meghann Pricer faced her former team for the first time, and kept the Cougars in the game with a three-hit effort. Pricer allowed just one earned run, but wasn’t the beneficiary of any offensive support as Wildcat Becky Lemke pitched a no-hitter leading the Wildcats to the 2-0 win.
The Cougars were also shut out in the second game, 10-0. The Wildcat bats exploded against BYU pitcher Maryon Dewitt, posting 11 hits in four innings to end the game early. BYU managed two hits in the loss, a double by Liz Smith and a single by Becca Erickson.
“They hit the ball really well and there really wasn’t anything we could do about it,” said outfielder Emily Fernely. “They hit off of Maryon extremely well in the second inning, but she came back tough, and we all brought our focus together again, and the rest of the game we stuck with them.”
“We knew they’d be tough, but I think we went with the right attitude thinking that we would play our best and that’s exactly what we did,” Fernely said. “Although we lost, we felt good about the weekend, and it said a lot about what we have the potential to look like in the future.”
The Cougars have the week off before resuming play in California, taking on Santa Clara and Fresno State, currently ranked seventh in the USA Today NFCA poll.
