No. 12 Arizona chipped away against No. 18 Oklahoma State’s starter Ruby Meylan, and Devyn Netz led the Wildcats to a 3-0 win over the Cowgirls to take the series on Sunday at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Aces Netz and Meylan faced off in the circle in the rubber match game of the series in a reprise of a pitcher’s duel in game one on Friday, which Oklahoma State won 4-2. Netz ended up on top Sunday, and added a few insurance runs for the Wildcats with a late two-run home run in the process.
“I think that this series win proves that we can face any team, two, three times, you name it, and we can compete,” Netz said.
Arizona held a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth when Miranda Stoddard came in to relieve Netz after Netz walked the leadoff batter. Stoddard recorded an out before allowing a single and a fielder’s choice that loaded the bases. Stoddard struck out Karli Godwin to record the second out, and then Arizona chose to bring in Aissa Silva to face lefty Claire Timm. The move to Silva paid off. Timm grounded out to get Arizona out of the jam.
Netz hit a two-run home run to center to extend Arizona’s lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth, and Stoddard sealed the deal in the seventh to earn the save.
"I don't know if there's a more electric player in the country than Devyn Netz." pic.twitter.com/QLvQzFFCoy
— Arizona Softball (@ArizonaSoftball) April 6, 2025
Netz (15-4) recorded the shutout-win in five innings, allowing two hits with one strikeout and two walks.
The series win for Arizona against Oklahoma State was its biggest of the season, and marked its fourth straight in Big 12 play dating back to when it dropped the season-opening series against UCF. It was also the first win in game three of a series since Arizona beat Utah to sweep the series on March 16.
“We wanted to be dominant on Sunday. That was one of our goals, because it’s been a minute, and we wanted to just finish on a good feeling,” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said.
Arizona held a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning on Friday before Oklahoma State’s Rosie Davis hit a game-winning three-run home run, but aside from that misstep, Lowe was pleased with how the Wildcats competed all weekend.
“One of the goals of this weekend was from Friday first pitch to Sunday, last pitch, being a competitive, all out, leave it all out on the field team. I thought we did that even after the loss on Friday,” Lowe said. “I think we made a mental mistake Friday, and we recovered from that today, and grew up because of it.”
Arizona chipped away to score a run in the bottom of the third. With one out in the frame, Tayler Biehl reached on a walk. She stole second, advanced to third on a groundout from Dakota Kennedy and scored on an infield single from Regan Shockey.
Biehl is 8 for 8 on stolen base attempts this season.
Netz found herself in some trouble with two outs in the top of the fifth after Megan Delgadillo reached on an infield single and Rachael Hathood walked. Megan Bloodworth then hit a low-sailing line drive to the center, which looked like it might bring runners in, but Shockey snagged it for the third out.
Arizona plays at Kansas (17-16, 4-7 Big 12) on Friday at 3 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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