Arizona Softball

Oklahoma State pushes through in the seventh to beat Arizona 4-2

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(Arizona Athletics)

After holding a lead for most of the game, No. 12 Arizona couldn’t recover from a seventh inning rally from No. 18 Oklahoma State, losing game one of the series 4-2 on Friday at Hillenbrand Stadium.

The top-20 matchup featured the two winningest pitchers in the Big 12 this season, with aces Devyn Netz and Ruby Meylan getting starts for their teams in the circle. Meylan transferred from Washington to Oklahoma State heading into the season after two seasons with the Huskies.

In what turned into a pitcher duel, Netz held a shutout through six innings, and Arizona held a 2-0 lead.

Oklahoma State ended her shutout in the top of the seventh when Claire Timm hit a solo home run to left field. Netz hit Tallen Edwards with a pitch with one out and followed it up by walking Tia Warstop to put the leading run on base, prompting Miranda Stoddard to relieve her in the circle.

The first batter Stoddard faced was Rosie Davis, who hit a three run home run to left, giving the Cowgirls their first and only lead at 4-2.

Arizona got two runners aboard in the bottom of the seventh —Altmeyer doubled to center with one out, and Sydney Stewart walked with two outs — but Stoddard grounded out to end the game.

Arizona had five hits and stranded 10 runners on base. After taking a 2-0 lead, the Wildcats struggled to get things going once Meylan settled in.

Meylan (15-3) allowed two earned runs in a complete game performance for the win, allowing five hits with eight strike outs and eight walks.

“Honestly, I thought we had really good at bats off Ruby (Meylan),” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said. I thought we took a lot of borderline pitches that made her uncomfortable. I think she walked a lot of people tonight that she’s not used to, and we hit some balls on the screws that got caught. I was proud of our fight tonight. I don’t think we gave away very many at bats, and we just need to execute a couple more times and control the seventh inning a little bit better.”

Lowe wasn’t as concerned with Oklahoma State breaking through in the seventh inning, as much as she was about the lack of insurance runs the Wildcats had at that point.

“We just have to execute in those moments, yes, but I think the sixth and seventh, we could have put ourselves in a better position to just shut a team down at the very end,” she said. “So we want to see that, and at the same time, we want to put some security runs on the board and really come through in some of those moments.”

Arizona showed discipline early against its former Pac-12 foe Meylan in the bottom of the first inning, taking a 2-0 lead off four walks and a sacrifice fly from Kaiah Altmeyer on 44 pitches. Meylan regained control in the circle, striking out the final two batters in the first, leaving the bases loaded for Arizona.

Oklahoma State was primed to get on the board after Netz gave up three singles in the top of the fifth, but with one out, Tayler Biehl snagged a line drive and threw out Megan Bloodworth, who had left second base on her way to third when Biehl made the catch, to end the inning with a double play.

Netz gave up two more singles in the top of the sixth but got out of the jam by stranding both runners.

Netz (14-4) pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs off nine hits with a strike out and a walk in the loss.

Arizona (31-7, 8-5 Big 12) plays Oklahoma State (23-9, 5-3 Big 12) Saturday at 6 p.m. at Hillenbrand Stadium.

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 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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