Devyn Netz played to the form that merited her Big 12 Player of the Year in No. 2 Arizona’s come-from-behind 4-3 victory Thursday against No. 7 UCF in a conference tournament quarterfinal game at Oklahoma City.
Netz relieved Miranda Stoddard in the bottom of the second after the Knights appeared as though they continued to have Arizona number after beating the Wildcats in two out of three games at Hillenbrand to start Big 12 play in early March.
UCF led 2-0 when Netz entered. She went on to retire 13 of the first 15 batters she faced, which helped turn the tide and enabled Arizona to take the lead.
CATS TAKE THE LEAD!!!
That’s our Big 12 POY. pic.twitter.com/TqMKHXvcOM
— Arizona Softball (@ArizonaSoftball) May 8, 2025
Netz’s two-run single that was part of Arizona’s three-run rally in the fifth inning gave the Wildcats their 4-3 lead.
Netz allowed three hits and a run in 5 2/3 innings to earn the victory and improve to 21-5. She had one strikeout and no walks. She induced 10 flyouts from the 17 batters she faced.
At the plate, she went 2 for 3 with two runs.
Arizona (44-10) will play No. 3 Iowa State (31-22) in the semifinal round Friday at 3:30 p.m., Tucson time. The Cyclones beat No. 6 BYU 4-2 on Thursday night in the last first-round game of the day.
No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 3 Iowa State tomorrow in the Big 12 semifinals.
No. 5 Arizona State plays No. 1 Texas Tech in the other semifinal.
Arizona is 9-0 in its limited series vs. Iowa State. The teams did not meet in the regular season in the Wildcats' first season in the Big 12.… https://t.co/v8ivpHzz6H— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) May 9, 2025
Arizona finally got to UCF starter Isabella Vega (13-5) in the fourth inning after Regan Shockey led off the inning with a triple.
Shockey scored when the next batter, Sydney Stewart, reached base on a fielding error by first baseman Ashleigh Griffin (who dropped the ball from the throw by third baseman Sierra Humphreys on Stewart’s grounder).
Arizona sent eight batters to the plate in its game-turning three-run rally in the fifth inning.
Jenna Sniffen was hit by a pitch from Vega to lead off the inning and she was replaced by pinch runner Zaedi Tagalog (Canyon del Oro grad).
Tayler Biehl laid a sacrifice bunt down effectively, moving Tagalog to second base.
Emily Schepp, getting a shot to produce as the designated player, hit a single to center field that moved Tagalog to third base. Schepp moved to second on the play and was replaced by pinch-runner Kiki Escobar.
Dakota Kennedy’s sacrifice fly to center scored Tagalog to cut UCF’s lead to 3-2.
Shockey reached on a bunt single and Stewart was hit by a pitch before Netz singled to right field, scoring Escobar and Shockey to put Arizona ahead 4-3.
Kaitlyn Felton relieved Vega at that point.
Netz shut the door from there, retiring six of the seven batters she faced in the sixth and seventh innings.
Izzy Mertes led off the seventh with a single for UCF. After Netz got the next batter to pop out, Stewart threw out pinch-runner Alexis Morgan, who tried to steal second base. The game ended with Netz getting the next batter to ground out to shortstop.
Shockey went 2 for 3 with two runs and a triple. Those two hits, Netz’s couple of hits and Schepp’s single were the only five hits Arizona produced but it was enough.
Arizona’s victory strengthens the likelihood of the Wildcats hosting a regional next weekend.
Their RPI remains at No. 11, which makes it challenging with potentially only two games remaining in the Big 12 tournament for them to host a Super Regional, which goes to the top eight teams in the nation.
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