Arizona Softball

Arizona hits five home runs in 10-2 run-rule win over Stanford

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Emily Schepp hit one of five Arizona home runs on Sunday. (Arizona Athletics)

Devyn Netz hit two of five home runs for No. 20 Arizona and helped pitch the Wildcats to a 10-2 six-inning run-rule win over No. 20 Stanford to close out the Hillenbrand Invitational on Sunday.

Arizona (15-2) got on the board in the bottom of the first with back-to-back home runs from Sydney Stewart and Netz that put the Wildcats up 3-0.

Stewart’s two-run home run was her sixth of the season and second of the weekend. She had a three-run home run in the bottom of the first in an extra-innings loss to No. 1 Texas on Saturday.

“I was really impressed with the way they showed up to batting practice in the warm-ups today, because after yesterday it could of went one of two ways,” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said about the importance of scoring early. I think they were focused, locked in, driven and just ready for the task at hand. It was great to see us throw that first punch.”

But things got interesting when Aissa Silva relieved Miranda Stoddard in the circle to begin the third and gave up two runs to Stanford (12-2).

Arizona was up 3-0 and Stoddard was pitching a perfect game through two innings.

Silva gave up a solo home run to Kylie Chan and another to Emily Jones in the fourth, prompting Netz to relieve her in the circle with Arizona clinging to a 3-2 lead.

“With good hitters, we like to have different looks. We really liked Aissa against some of their hitters,” Lowe said of the decision to bring Silva into the circle for Stoddard. “I thought she did a really good job against some of their hitters. She left a couple balls up, but that was always the plan, and then to get to Devyn in the later innings.”

Netz (6-1) steadied the ship, retiring the next nine batters she faced, with five strikeouts. She credited Stewart’s guidance behind the plate for her performance in the circle.

“I just tell Stewey just to lead me. Lead me at every pitch, and tell me what’s working and what’s not working. We can just work together because I’m only as good as her leading me,” Netz said.

Stewart said Netz’s “fire” in the circle spread throughout the team.

“I’m just trying to use that as much as possible,” she said. “Even when our bats are a little cold at some moments, I’m trying to use our defense to kind of spark that energy.”

A seven-run sixth inning off a barrage of home runs ended the game run-rule fashion. A solo home run from Emily Schepp got it all started, and Jenna Sniffen and Stoddard reached base on throwing errors with two outs. Kaiah Altmeyer‘s three-run home run to center extended Arizona’s lead, and after Regan Shockey singled and Stewart doubled down the left field line, Netz hit a walkoff three-run home run to center.

While Lowe said she would have liked to see some more scoring in the middle innings, she was pleased with the way the Arizona hitters capped of the game.

“I would have liked some more punches in the middle. That last inning, being able to put someone away feels good against a very good team — they are a very good offensive team and they have a lot of different looks on the mound. So, just a lot of respect for them and a lot of respect for our girls for keeping it in our hands instead of giving it to them and giving them a chance to come back and win the game,” she said.

Arizona plays at Loyola Marymount (4-10) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

FOLLOW @KEVINMURFEE ON TWITTER! ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News & the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.

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