You didn't expect me to give serious thought to music did you?
We're going around the country profiling all the teams you need to know about in Softball this season. If you missed it, check out yesterday's profiles on Baylor & UCLA. This series will continue through April 13th as we preview 32 of the top teams in the country!
When you think of Arizona Softball, you think of all the great teams and players in it's history. The 2012 version of the Arizona Wildcats has the same formula for success. Amazing pitching? Check. Power hitters? Check. They're just working now to put it all together. They started the season off at the Kajikawa Classic, going 3-3 with wins over McNeese State, Syracuse, and Cal-State Northridge while losing to Georgia Tech, Nebraska, & Texas A&M. They then went to the Hillenbrand Invitational and went 5-0 over UAB, North Dakota, Western Kentucky, & Southern Utah. The Cathedral City Classic was also good to them, going 5-1 with wins over Fresno State, Oklahoma State, Fordham, Syracuse, and Long Beach State... their lone loss coming to Georgia. They also competed in the Judi Garman Classic going 2-0 in games that weren't rained out over UC-Davis & Iowa. They swept College of Charleston and split a series with New Mexico State.
PITCHING:
Shelby Babcock (So.; Broomfield, CO) 9-4 in 12 Starts. 1.91 ERA
Kenzie Fowler (Jr.; Tucson, AZ) 8-1 in 10 starts. 1.95 ERA
HITTING:
Brigette Del Ponte - 3B (Jr.; Peoria, AZ) .380 in 71 AB. 24 RBI, 5 HR, .718 slg%
Jessica Spigner - 1B (Sr.; Santa Clarita, CA) .368 in 57 AB. 23 RBI, 6 HR, .737 slg%
Lini Koria - C (Sr.; Carson, CA) .359 in 64 AB. 11 RBI, 5 HR. .656 slg%
Shelby Pendley - SS (Fr.; Rio Rancho, NM) .358 in 67 AB. 31 RBI, 9 HR, .836 slg%
Chelsea Suitos - RF (RS-Fr.; Elk Grove, CA) .356 in 73 AB. 9 RBI, 0 HR
As you can see from the stats, they have pretty damn good pitching. They are efficient enough for their bats to come through for them. And the bats... oh wow. They can swing, and they can drill the ball. Look at the slugging percentage on their top four hitters. Ridiculous. When you're getting that kind of run support, you don't have as much pressure on your pitchers. And the breakout season Shelby Pendley is having so far as a freshman is no joke. This girl can hit the long ball, already taking nine of them deep. Look for Arizona to really compete at the top of the PAC-12, again, like I really need to tell you to do that.
Hawai'i Rainbows (24-2, 0-0 WAC)
A lot of people over look Hawai'i since they are way the Christ out in the middle of the damned Pacific. Don't over look Hawai'i. They are VERY GOOD. Their pitching has been spectacular thus far. They started the season off in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic (say that five times fast) where they went 5-0 over Seattle, UMKC, & DePaul. They went to Vegas and played in the UNLV Louisville Slugger Classic going 5-0 over Memphis, Portland State, UC-Riverside, Cal St.-Northridge, & Idaho State. They then hosted their own tournaments going 11-2 with wins over Radford, UCSB, Florida State, Southern Illinois, Robert Morris, Marist, Cal, and Winthrop. The two losses were to Texas and Texas A&M who are no lightweights in the Softball game. They've also won games outside of the tournament against UMKC & UNLV.
PITCHING:
Stephanie Rickets (Sr.; San Jose, CA) 14-2 in 16 starts. 0.98 ERA
Kaia Panaby (Jr.; Bilgola Plateau, Australia) 9-0 in 10 starts. 0.43 ERA
HITTING:
Jessica Iwata - SS (Jr.; Lihu'e, HI) .413 in 75 AB. 30 RBI, 5 HR, .707 slg%
Leisha Li'ili'i - 1B (Fr.; Kane'ohe, HI) .385 in 65 AB. 24 RBI, 6 HR, .708 slg%
Sarah Robinson - 3B (Sr.; Honolulu, HI) .346 in 78 AB. 18 RBI, 3 HR
Makani Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamah - DH (Sr.; Mililani, HI) .313 in 64 AB. 12 RBI, 4 HR
Kayla Wartner - C (Fr.; Escondido, CA) .271 in 70 AB. 15 RBI, 1 HR
This team will be fine, probably will go close to undefeated in the WAC. They can compete with most of the big schools at any given time as well, so they have a shot at the CWS. The problem they have is depth. Their batting lineup isn't deep enough. They can get on base but outside of Iwata and Li'ili'i they have a severe power outage. They'll need to rely on their superior pitching to get them through.
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