No. 11 Arizona completed a series sweep against No. 17 Arizona State.

Arizona showed ASU what a dominant performance looks like in a weekend rivalry series as the Wildcats (27-7, 9-0 Pac-12) outscored the Sun Devils 18-0 in three games at Hillenbrand Stadium.

“We didn’t just beat them, we came and made a statement.” Missouri transfer and UA infielder Rylee Pierce said after her first experience facing the team’s in-state rival. Pierce accounted for both of Arizona’s runs in Sunday’s shutout victory that was capped with a home run in the sixth inning.

Arizona not only shutout ASU in a season series for the first time in program history, but the ‘Cats only allowed the Sun Devils six total hits all weekend. Going into the series the Sun Devils were ranked as the nation’s top offense, but they could not muster much at the plate over the course of the weekend with runners getting into scoring position in just five of the series’ 17 innings.

“I liked the way we played,” Arizona head coach Mike Candrea said. “Not often do you go into a series like this and give up no runs so my hat goes off to our pitching staff.”

Taylor McQuillin pitched the first and third games of the series while UA’s No. 2 pitcher Alyssa Denham spent the second game in the circle for the Wildcats. The first two games of the weekend ended in five innings with McQuillin and Denham each allowing the Sun Devils only two hits.

“Five innings that limits the amount of energy that we have to exert in games and we have been doing that a lot lately,” McQuillin said.

In the seventh inning of Sunday’s game the Sun Devils were able to get two runners on base and that’s when McQuillin looked to her team for help, “It kind of made me realize, ‘hey I can use my defense, my defense is behind me, I’m not by myself in this situation’ and that’s how we got three pop outs in.”

For Pierce getting to watch the pitchers go to work throughout the weekend was something she was happy to see.

“They work their butts off every week every day and so for them to come out and do that and make that statement it’s a huge testament to their work ethic,” she said. “No runs against one of the leading offenses in the country is huge… and it’s a big testament to all of the work they put in.”

Arizona finished the series with five home runs by five different players as Malia Martinez, Dejah Mulipola, Tamara Statman, Alyssa Palomino Cardoza and Hannah Martinez provided the power at the plate for UA in the series.

“Overall if I look at the weekend I’m very, very pleased with the way we swung the bat,” Candrea said.

As for the rest of the season McQuillin said, “All gas no break is kind of our motto right now.”

Arizona faces UTEP in a weekday doubleheader this Wednesday with fist pitch set for 2 p.m. MST at Hillenbrand Stadium.