No. 11 Arizona beat Utah 8-6 on Saturday at Hillenbrand Stadium to clinch the series against the Utes and its first series in the Big 12 era.
Arizona had eight hits and scored eight runs off Utah starting pitcher Hailey Maestretti (3-6) in four innings.
“I thought we did a really good job of manufacturing runs today. I thought that was a really big deal,” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said. “That’s their ace that we saw today, so being able to take what she gave us, and that was singles to start, then being able to throw some drags down that put pressure on the defense and make them play defense. I thought we put pressure on them almost every inning and that felt good. I thought they just kind of chipped away at it and found a way to win.”
Arizona held a comfortable lead for most of the game, but it got interesting late. The Wildcats were up 8-2 when Utah loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning. With two outs and an 0-2 count, Jolie Mayfield hit a grand slam to make it a two-run game.
Saya Swain came in to relieve Aissa Silva in the circle and recorded the final out. She closed the game out for Arizona in the top of the seventh inning to pick up her first save of the season.
Swain transferred to Arizona in the off-season after pitching four seasons at Iowa State, where she recorded 290 strikeouts over 253 1/3 innings and averaged just over one strikeout per inning during her time with the Cyclones.
“It felt good. It felt nice to be back in the save column,” Swain said. “I know the past few appearances going out there, I didn’t really do my job. My job here is to be a closer. So, I was just hounding in on going out and closing the game and just throwing strikes. I know that I’m my best when I’m throwing strikes.”
Six of Arizona’s eight hits on Saturday were singles and the Wildcats had four players reach base on walks. Kaiah Altmeyer had a single, a double and two RBIs on Saturday.
“Obviously, the mindset is to just put the ball on the bat and just make the pitcher throw something over the white,” Altmeyer said. “I think our team just does a good job with communication and passing each other’s at-bats along to each other and learning from each other’s at-bats, and just making the pitcher throw something over the plate.”
Kaiah Altmeyer had 2 RBIs and Saya Swain got the save in an 8-6 win over Utah on Saturday @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/e21tCiqMer
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) March 16, 2025
The Wildcats run-ruled the Utes 8-0 in five innings in game one of the series on Friday.
“It feels good. Winning every series is tough, and sweeping is hard. So, we’re going to have a challenge tomorrow,” Lowe said of clinching the series on Saturday. “They’re going to be ready to go, and we’re going to get their best game. It’s up to us to show up and control the momentum from the beginning.”
Caitlin Lowe thought the Wildcats did a good job chipping away and manufacturing runs against Utah. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/pDxd7Ir46Z
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) March 16, 2025
Arizona (25-4, 3-2 Big 12) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single up the middle from Devyn Netz and an unearned run from Altmeyer on a groundout from Sydney Stewart.
Utah (8-21, 0-2 Big 12) got on the board in the top of the second inning after Arizona starter Ryan Maddox allowed a single and walked two batters, loading the bases for the Utes with one out. Miranda Stoddard came in to relieve Maddox in the circle and with two outs, and Sianni Sakai made it a 2-1 game with an RBI single to center.
Arizona added three runs in the bottom of the second inning to extend its lead to 5-1. Tayler Biehl walked and later scored on a throwing error to first on a sacrifice bunt from Kiki Escobar, Dakota Kennedy walked and scored on Altmeyer’s double to center and Regan Shockey — who had reached base on a fielder’s choice — scored on a sacrifice fly from Netz.
Utah got one run back in the top of the third inning with a leadoff home run from Mayfield.
Arizona tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Altmeyer grounded out to second, scoring Kennedy from third.
In the top of the fifth, Silva came in to relieve Stoddard in the circle with two Utah runners on base. Silva recorded the final out of the half inning by striking Hailey Deter. In the bottom half of the inning, Stewart scored on a single from Stoddard that was mishandled by Utah left fielder Sakai, and pinch runner Zaedi Tagalog scored on a wild pitch to stretch Arizona’s lead to 8-2.
Arizona closes the series against Utah tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Hillenbrand Stadium.
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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