No. 14 Arizona run-ruled Howard 9-0 in five innings on Saturday in the Hillenbrand Invitational at Hillenbrand Stadium with the help of four home runs.
Former Canyon del Oro standout Julia Holt, daughter of late Arizona football player Julius Holt, pitched two innings of relief for Howard.
Arizona honored the Holts before the game. A video was displayed in which Howard coach Tori Tyson mentioned the Bison were in Tucson at the wish of Julia, who played at CDO under legendary coach Kelly Fowler, mom of Arizona legendary pitcher Kenzie Fowler.
Julius Holt was also a community activist who led the Tucson Youth Football organization for many years.
The Wildcats were led by Tayler Biehl, who hit two home runs and drove in five runs.
Sydney Stewart and Addison Duke also homered to help Arizona run-rule the Bison.
Arizona struck first with a two-run home run from Biehl in the first inning. The Wildcats had chances to score in the second inning but the Bison didn’t allow another run to score.
In the fourth inning, the Wildcats exploded with seven runs to take a 9-0 lead.
Duke drove in the first three runs of the inning with her first career home run. Biehl then hit her second homer of the game to add three runs for Arizona. Stewart followed Biehl with a solo home run to round out the inning for the Cats.
Jalen Adams earned the win to improve to 9-3 after pitching four innings and holding Howard scoreless on just two hits. Jenae Berry relieved Adams in the fifth and gave up two hits but completed the shutout.
Arizona will close out the Hillenbrand invitational against Long Beach State on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
