Utah State’s visit to Hillenbrand Stadium for a rare Monday matinee game, in which the Aggies lost to Arizona 8-0 in six innings, included Salpointe graduate Jae Castillo and Aggies coach Todd Judge and members of his coaching staff with Tucson connections.
Judge, a co-founder and former head coach of the Oro Valley Sun Cats softball club, is in his second year as head coach at Utah State.
His staff includes former local softball standouts Mia Trejo of Tucson High and Shelby Thompson of Ironwood Ridge and former Arizona pitcher Marissa Schuld, who concluded her career at Arizona State.
The seventh-ranked Wildcats improved to 23-4 with the victory. Utah State is 13-10 with one of its victories over Big 12 power Baylor in a tournament at College Station, Texas, last month.
Castillo, a catcher who last spring won the 4A state title over CDO in a game at Hillenbrand, did not play in the game but she reunited with former Salpointe teammates Anyssa Wild and Logan Cole of Arizona afterward.
Dakota Kennedy and Devyn Netz hit home runs in Arizona’s win.
Arizona totaled 12 hits. Three of the players — Wild, Tayler Biehl and Sydney Stewart — each had two hits.
Kennedy opened the game with a leadoff home run, the second straight game she has performed that feat.
In the second inning, Wild hit an RBI single to give Arizona a 2-0 lead.
Following two scoreless innings, the Wildcats scored two in the fifth.
Biehl drove in the first run with a single to center field and Stewart took advantage of a fielding error on the play to score the second run.
Arizona plated four runs in the sixth inning to secure the mercy rule win over Utah State.
Netz hit a three-run home run – her eighth homer of the season – to give the Cats a 7-0 lead. Wild drove in the winning run with an RBI single to walk off the Aggies.
In the circle, Brooke Mannon picked up her first win of the season. She pitched the first four innings and allowed just two hits while striking out two Aggies. Saya Swain relieved Mannon in the fifth inning, striking out two and allowing one hit. Mountain View graduate Aissa Silva entered in the final inning and did not allow a hit.
Arizona next hosts Utah in a Big 12 three-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
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