Miranda Stoddard hit yet another home run — her sixth in three days of the Bear Down Fiesta — and Arizona overwhelmed Ohio with an eight-run fourth inning in the Wildcats’ 12-8 victory Saturday at Hillenbrand Stadium.
That’s the good part for the Wildcats, who are 9-1 to start the season after beginning 16-1 last season under four-year coach Caitlin Lowe.
The bad part was Arizona’s four errors that led to three unearned runs, including two when Ohio rallied for five runs in the second inning.
The sloppy play on defense drew the ire of Lowe, who talked longer than usual with her team after the game.
“It was completely unacceptable,” Lowe said of her team’s defense. “Most of those plays are all within our control. … We didn’t feel ready to play defense today. Just completely unacceptable, because it’s a controllable part of our game.”
Arizona coach Caitlin Lowe was not happy about her team’s four errors in the 12-8 win over Ohio. The Wildcats had five errors in the previous nine games. She took longer than usual talking with her team after the game. pic.twitter.com/e9xzZMXJRF
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 16, 2025
Arizona will play the last game of the Bear Down Fiesta on Sunday against Cal State Fullerton (6-2) at 11:30 a.m. Arizona beat the Titans 10-1 in five innings Friday and committed two errors in that game as well.
The Wildcats’ six errors in the last two games comes after they had only three in their first eight games.
“I think I’m most proud that we gutted out the win and found a way but just a completely unacceptable performance for us kind of all around today,” Lowe said.
Stoddard’s home run was a solo shot to lead off the third inning, cutting Ohio’s lead to 5-3.
The homer occurred after she had one of the errors in the second inning that contributed to the Bobcats’ five-run rally.
After Ohio rallied for two more runs in the top of the fourth, Arizona chased two pitchers in the bottom of the inning during its eight-run rally that included 11 batters coming to the plate.
Kaiah Altmeyer and Emily Schepp hit their first home runs of the season in the rally, each a two-run shot, Emma Kavanaugh hit a two-run double and Jenna Sniffen a two-run single.
Schepp, a sophomore, came through in her pinch-hitting appearance with the home run after belting seven last year in 46 starts.
“It’s a lot of a mental game, honestly, just being prepared when it’s my time getting called up,” Schepp said of her role as a reserve this season. “Just not being too big in the moment. Just doing what needs to be done.”
Arizona’s Emily Schepp, a reserve catcher who hit seven HRs in 46 starts last year, belted her first home run of the season today in the 12-8 win over Ohio. Iowa State transfer Saya Swain got the win in four quality innings of relief. pic.twitter.com/oK1lmXrAfW
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 16, 2025
Lowe mentioned that Schepp has handled the situation of Kavanaugh, a freshman, and Washington transfer Sydney Stewart being the primary catchers right now like a “rock star.”
“She was absolutely ready for her moment, and she swung the bat with authority, which I thought we weren’t doing at the beginning of the game,” Lowe said.
Lowe and pitching coach Christian Conrad had to make two pitching changes in the second inning, when Ohio took advantage mostly of walks and errors to score five runs.
Brooke Mannon, the starting pitcher, was relieved by freshman Sarah Wright with one out after walking two batters, each on four straight balls.
Wright was replaced by Aissa Silva after Ohio took a 5-1 lead with two outs.
Two of the five runs were earned by Mannon.
Wright was charged with one of the three runs that scored when she was in the circle.
Silva was relieved by former Iowa State pitcher Saya Swain with no outs in the fourth following a home run by Cici Keidel and single by Belle Hummel.
Lauren Yuhas, the first batter to face Swain, hit a sacrifice fly to put Ohio ahead 7-3. Swain retired the next two batters to end the inning.
Nine of the first 11 batters Swain faced did not reach base before Ohio rallied for its final run with two outs in the top of the seventh on a RBI single by Colleen Bare.
Swain said she was confident of the defense behind her even if her teammates struggled earlier in the game.
“I always turn back to my defense and tell them I’m just going to roll them another one,” Swain said. “I trust in them. We all make mistakes. I throw pitches down the middle. I give up home runs. I just trust in them to give them another ground ball.”
Swain finished with four strikeouts with one walk while allowing two hits.
In Friday’s victory over Fullerton, Swain allowed one hit in two innings with three strikeouts and no walks.
She leads Arizona with a 1.58 ERA in 13 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. She has allowed nine hits and three earned runs with 14 strikeouts and four walks. Opponents are batting .184 against her.
Lowe acknowledged that Silva and Swain were each a calming influence in the circle against Ohio after Arizona’s rocky start defensively.
“She threw a lot of innings today,” Lowe said of Swain. “Her off-speed was great. She just competed. That’s the big thing. We played good defense behind her.
“The defense turned around later in the game. Tay (Tayler Biehl at shortstop) makes a good play on a hard ball and Paige (Dimler in right field) makes a great play at the fence. That’s what we are capable of and we didn’t show up from the first pitch on today. We need to be better all around.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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