The UA softball team signed four players to LOI's during the season: C/INF Brigette DelPonte, P Kenzie Fowler, INF Baillie Kirker and OF Rebecca Tikey. Fowler is the ace pitcher for Canyon Del Oro and it was a great job keeping her in her hometown.
Arizona does have quite a few seniors graduating, like Jenae Leles, Sam Banister and Laine Roth, but I would argue that Jill Malina will be Arizona's biggest loss. The Wildcats will return plenty of hitting and power next season, but Malina was a great person in the dugout, helped keep her teammates motivated and was a great runner on the base-path. Players like that don't come around too often.
Florida was able to defeat Cal in two straight 2-1 games to advance to the WCWS, where they will play Arizona on Thursday. Florida is the #1 overall seed for the 2nd year in a row and has defeated other teams in the WCWS like Michigan, Alabama, and Georgia; as well as Pac-10 foes Washington and Arizona State. Florida's ace pitcher Stacey Nelson can be outstanding, but last year showed that she was unable to pitch in tough situations during the WCWS.
Arizona's hitters have shown they can hit against even the toughest pitchers in the nation and should be able to get some offense going against the Gators. It will be interesting to see how Arizona's pitching performs as no pitcher on the staff has pitched in the WCWS. The one thing I'm sure of is that Coach Candrea, Coach Ray, and the seniors on the team do not want to repeat last year's 0-2 showing. If Arizona can beat Florida, I'd be very surprised if they lost the next game to whomever it is.
Arizona does have quite a few seniors graduating, like Jenae Leles, Sam Banister and Laine Roth, but I would argue that Jill Malina will be Arizona's biggest loss. The Wildcats will return plenty of hitting and power next season, but Malina was a great person in the dugout, helped keep her teammates motivated and was a great runner on the base-path. Players like that don't come around too often.
Florida was able to defeat Cal in two straight 2-1 games to advance to the WCWS, where they will play Arizona on Thursday. Florida is the #1 overall seed for the 2nd year in a row and has defeated other teams in the WCWS like Michigan, Alabama, and Georgia; as well as Pac-10 foes Washington and Arizona State. Florida's ace pitcher Stacey Nelson can be outstanding, but last year showed that she was unable to pitch in tough situations during the WCWS.
Arizona's hitters have shown they can hit against even the toughest pitchers in the nation and should be able to get some offense going against the Gators. It will be interesting to see how Arizona's pitching performs as no pitcher on the staff has pitched in the WCWS. The one thing I'm sure of is that Coach Candrea, Coach Ray, and the seniors on the team do not want to repeat last year's 0-2 showing. If Arizona can beat Florida, I'd be very surprised if they lost the next game to whomever it is.
