The No. 20 Arizona softball team hosted Houston in the first game of its final home regular-season series of the year, winning 9-1 at Hillenbrand Stadium Friday night.
After a three-week road trip, Arizona (32-13, 13-6 Big 12) returned to a packed Hillenbrand to face Houston (20-29, 3-19).
Sydney Stewart lit it up from the plate, belting two home runs with five RBIs. Tayler Biehl and Addison Duke added to the total with a solo home run each.
“I knew it was going off the bat,” Stewart said about her first home run. “I saw Regan (Shockey) stall a bit to wait it out. I just told her to go. It’s over”
“I thought both of them were out off the bat,” coach Caitlin Lowe said about Stewart’s home runs. “She did a good job because one of them was an off speed and one was a something hard and away.”
Both offenses came out swinging with the Cougars getting three straight hits but not taking advantage of it, as Adams got out of the inning stranding two.
Arizona responded by putting up two scores – Shockey batted in by Tele Jennings and Stewart coming home on a bases-loaded walk by Grace Jenkins.
Adams gave up two more hits but stranded both again before the Wildcats hit two home runs, the first being a solo homer to left by Duke and the second a ball that was crushed by Stewart that brought in Shockey.
Houston answered back with a solo home run by Makenna Mitchell to bring the score a bit closer, but it wasn’t enough.
After a quiet third inning for Arizona, the bats popped again starting with a three-run shot by Stewart that scored Shockey – for a third time – and Sereniti Trice before Biehl hit a dinger of her own to put the Wildcats at the eight-run run-rule limit.
Adams (19-7) finished off the night giving up six hits but only allowing one earned run with three strikeouts.
Arizona will face Houston again tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Hillenbrand.
The Wildcats are alone in second place in the Big 12, trailing Texas Tech (45-4, 17-2), with five games left in the regular season.
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