Caitlin Lowe’s fifth season as Arizona’s head coach came to a close on Sunday after the Wildcats lost twice to Duke in the championship round of the Durham (N.C.) Regional.
Arizona finished at 37-18, including an 8-10 mark since April 6.
In Lowe’s tenure after succeeding the legendary Mike Candrea, the Wildcats reached the Women’s College World Series in her first season, failed to make the postseason in 2023, reached the Super Regional at Stillwater, Okla., in 2024, and the regional round last year at Hillenbrand and this year at Duke.
Lowe, who has one year remaining on her contract, is at 190-96-1 overall.
Some of the standouts the former All-American and Olympian has coached at Arizona:
— C Sydney Stewart (2026 Big 12 Player of the Year/Big 12 Batting Champion/All-Big 12 First team, 2025 NFCA All-American/All-Big 12 First Team)
— CF Regan Shockey (2026 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year/All-Big 12 First Team, 2025 All-Big 12 First Team/2024 Pac-12 All-Defensive Team/Pac-12 All-Freshman Team)
— P Jalen Adams (2026 All-Big 12 Second Team)
— SS Tayler Biehl (2026 Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year/All-Big 12 First Team, 2024 All-Pac-12 Third Team/Pac-12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year/Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, 2023 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team)
— 2B Sereniti Trice (2026 All-Big 12 Second Team)
— OF Dakota Kennedy (2025 NFCA All-American/All-Big 12 First Team/Big 12 All-Defensive Team, 2024 Rawlings Gold Glove/NFCA Third-Team All-American/All-Pac-12 First Team, 2023 All-Pac-12 First Team/Pac-12 All-Freshman Team)
— P Devyn Netz (2025 Big 12 Player of the Year/NFCA All-American/Rawlings Gold Glove, 2023 All-Pac-12 Second Team)
— P/INF Miranda Stoddard (2025 All-Big 12 Second Team)
— 3B Jenna Sniffen (2025 All-Big 12 Second Team/Big 12 All-Freshman Team)
— 1B Carlie Scupin (2024 Pac-12 All-Defensive Team/All-Pac-12 Second Team)
— 2B Allie Skaggs (2024 All-Pac-12 First Team, 2023 Rawlings Gold Glove/Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, 2022 All-Pac-12 Second Team)
— OF Jasmine Perezchica (2022 All-Pac-12 Third Team)
— OF Paige Dimler (2022 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team)
Tremendous list, but only three of them are pitchers — Adams, Netz and Stoddard, and Netz and Stoddard also played the field and were power hitters.
The pitching staff of Adams, freshman Rylie Holder and sophomore Jenae Berry, led by second-year pitching coach Christian Conrad, struggled mightily against Duke on Sunday.
In the two games, Arizona allowed 22 hits, eight of them home runs, struck out only two and walked six.
Of note also was the struggle of Stewart at the plate. She went 0 for 7 in the two games Sunday and finished 2 for 13 overall without an extra-base hit in the Durham Regional. This was after she went 0 for 4 in the loss to Arizona State in the Big 12 tournament last week.
Game 1 | No. 12 Duke 8, No. 21 Arizona 6
The Wildcats scored six runs on six hits and Shockey went 2 for 3 at the plate.
Duke struck first with one run in the first inning on a solo home run but Arizona’s defense ended the inning with the team’s 44th double play of the season.
The Wildcats used a two-out rally to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Addison Duke brought in the first run of the game with an RBI single through the left side. Shockey created some chaos with an RBI bunt single to score Kiki Escobar for the lead.
In the third, the Blue Devils retook the lead with a two-run home run to make it a 3-2 game in the top of the inning. The Wildcats plated two in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead.
Sniffen drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game, and Escobar drove in the go-ahead run with a sac fly to give Arizona a 4-3 lead.
Duke scored three in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead. The Blue Devils used a pair of home runs, a solo homer and a two-run shot, to take a two-run lead over the Wildcats.
Arizona tied the game in the bottom of the fourth at 6-6. With two outs, Shockey and Trice scored on a Duke error to knot the game up.
The Blue Devils plated two runs in the top of the sixth to regain the lead. Duke scored two runs on a throwing error to go up 8-6.
Arizona struggled at the plate with 10 of its last 11 batters retired.
Holder entered in relief in the fifth and pitched the final 2 2/3 innings to pick up the loss and fall to 11-6. She allowed two runs on two hits. Adams started the game and went two innings, allowing three runs on five hits before Berry entered in the top of the third. Berry gave up three runs on three hits and struck out one Blue Devil in 2 1/3 innings.
Game 2 | No. 12 Duke 9, No. 21 Arizona 4
Arizona scored four runs on eight hits and Shockey went 2 for 3 for the second straight game before suffering an injury on a spectactular catch attempt in centerfield.
Duke took an early 1-0 lead over Arizona in the bottom of the first inning. The Blue Devils used a sac fly to plate their run.
The Blue Devils added two runs in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. A solo home run and the second sac fly of the game for Duke extended the lead.
Arizona put two runs on the board in the fourth to make it a one-run game. Emma Kavanagh hit a pinch-hit RBI single to put the Cats on the board and Shockey singled to left to bring in another run and make it a 3-2 game.
Duke extended its lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of two-run home runs.
One of the home runs was a result of Shockey not being able to secure the ball when she collided with the wall. Shockey, who in the first game hurt her left shoulder on a slide into second base, planted her face on the outfield wall when she tried to rob the home run.
The trainers and coaching staff ran immediately to her. After a delay of about five minutes, Shockey held her nose all the way into the dugout and did not return. No official word of her condition was released after the game.
In the top of the fifth, the Wildcats took advantage of a Blue Devil error to score a run and cut Duke’s lead to three with an RBI single from Escobar.
Duke scored two runs to take a 9-4 lead in the sixth. The first run came across on an RBI double and Duke’s fourth home run of the game scored the second run of the inning.
Adams picked up the loss to fall to 21-10 on the season after pitching two total innings in the game. She pitched the first inning and allowed two runs to score.
Holder entered in relief and went 2 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits before Berry entered. Berry went 1 1/3 innings and gave up one run before Adams re-entered in the bottom of the sixth to close out the game.
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