Pitching. Pitching. Pitching. That's been the story for Arizona softball throughout the Columbia Regional and pitcher Devyn Netz delivered the knockout punch by tossing a complete-game shutout as the Wildcats defeat Missouri 1-0 to advance to the Super Regionals to face Mississippi State in Starkville.
For Arizona, it is the 16th time since 2005 that the Wildcats (36-20) have made the Super Regionals.
"So very proud of this team, this group of women. And I was thinking this morning, I'm like, Man, I just feel like this year has been so hard and it has built this up for you guys. We've been tested like we've never been tested before this year," coach Caitlin Lowe said during her opening statement. "And they let it make them stronger. And I think it really showed today. So proud of Devyn and the way she competed in the circle. And this game is crazy. And sometimes it comes down to one pitch and that one pitch Shar (Sharlize Palacios) capitalized on, and I thought their pitcher threw a heck of a game. And it's a great Missouri team that we were able to beat today. So just so very proud of our fight all weekend."
Coming into Sunday's game against Missouri, Netz had a rough start against Stanford where she gave up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings of work while allowing 10 hits. But, against the Tigers, she turned in what might be her greatest pitching performance in her young career by tossing the complete-game shutout and allowing just two hits to go along with three strikeouts on 90 pitches.
The only jam that Netz found herself in was in the fourth inning when Missouri was able to get two runners on with two outs, but she got out of the inning by getting Tigers' batter Kendyll Bailey looking during a four-pitch at-bat.
"It's kind of surreal. It's something you dream of when you're a little kid. But this is only the beginning," Netz said when asked what this moment means to her. "And last year was tough coming from COVID. And not getting to play my senior year and not really getting a lot of opportunity my freshman year. But I really took hold of what the older seniors last year gave me, like what they taught me, and I took that whole year under Taryne (Mowatt) to get better and to learn from the people ahead me."
Offensively Arizona scratched across four hits throughout the lineup against Missouri (38-22) pitcher Jordan Webber, who went all seven innings on 111 pitches. The Wildcats were finally able to get to Webber in the fifth when Palacois hit her 19th home run of the season in a 1-2 count over the left field wall.
"I was not trying to hit a home run at all. I was trying to get good at that going and try to spark something for the team," Palacios said when asked about her home run. "And it was weird because all those moments that I can like think in the back of my softball career, there's always kind of silence and it's very quiet and it's kind of slowing down the moment. And I was actually able to hear my dad was like you've got the Shar, so then I took a deep breath I was like I can hit this, I can hit this and then I just saw change-up that was down, and I felt good, so I just went for it."
Entering the postseason, the Wildcats finished near the bottom of the Pac-12 and looked like they might not make the tournament. Now, Arizona has made the Super Regionals making the first time for Lowe, who becomes the first coach not named Mike Candrea to lead the program to the Super Regionals.
"It's special, it's special for these women. I mean, I've just, I've had a back seat and watching them work. And ever since the fall like I know, we have the talent," Lowe said. "And I think we've just been trying to prove it to ourselves this whole time that we are the team that we believe we are.
"And it doesn't really matter what other people think. But we put in the work every single day. And I've watched them do that and go through some bumps along the way. But at the end of the day, like they let it make them stronger. And I've never seen them closer than they are today. So that was just exciting for me to see. And to know that all that work paid off for them today."
Arizona will start travel up to Starkville to face Mississippi Sate with the Super Regional starting on Friday.
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