TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona softball junior shortstop hit three home runs, her seventh, eighth and ninth of the season, helping Arizona sweep a doubleheader with Drake (9-4) and Kent State (10-0, 5 innings) to open the Wildcat Invitational on Friday night at Hillenbrand Stadium. Harper's three homers were three of UA's five in the doubleheader, bringing its Pac-12-leading total to 30 through 17 games. The junior now leads the Pac-12 and is third in the nation with her nine long balls this season.
 
The Cats (12-5) continue the Wildcat Invitational on Saturday with a doubleheader vs. No. 23 Minnesota and Kent State scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. MST. The complete Wildcat Invitational schedule can be found HERE.
 
Game 1: #12 Arizona 9, Drake 4
 
Jessie Harper hit her Pac-12-best sixth and seventh home runs, her second multi-homer game of the season, leading No. 12 Arizona over Drake, 9-4, for the Cats' second win over the Bulldogs, who are receiving votes in this week's NFCA Top 25.
 
Harper's two homers were two of UA's three on the day; senior transfer Rylee Pierce notched her first home run as a Wildcat in the contest.
 
In all, the Cats plated nine runs on 11 hits in the victory. Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza, Harper and Malia Martinez all had two-hit efforts.
 
Harper and Palomino-Cardoza plated three runs apiece with their two hits while Reyna Carranco, Martinez and Pierce had one RBI each.
 
Alyssa Denham (5-1) earned the victory for the Wildcats, pitching five innings and allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks.
 
Taylor McQuillin entered with the tying runs on in the top of the sixth inning. After allowing a bloop RBI single, Drake had the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second with no one out. She struck out the next three batters to preserve the one-run lead and then struck out all three batters in the seventh to convert her first save of the season.
 
Drake took advantage of a leadoff walk in the top of the first, scoring an early run to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Jenna Kean led off the bottom of the third with Arizona's first hit, a line-drive single to left, and immediately stole second. Two pitches later, the Cats had the lead. Reyna Carranco doubled home Kean and then Jessie Harper sent the next pitch toward Candrea's Corner in left field, her seventh home run of the season, to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead.
 
UA added to its lead with a two-out RBI double from Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza in the fourth inning to put the Cats ahead 4-1 after four.
 
Harper hit her second home run of the game, a solo shot over the batter's eye in center, in the fifth inning.
 
After a Wildcat error opened the sixth, Drake hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 5-3. Two walks chased Denham in favor of McQuillin, who allowed a single to cut the lead to 5-4. With the potential tying run at third and the potential go-ahead run at second and no one out, McQuillin struck out the next three Bulldogs to keep the lead intact.
 
UA added four runs of insurance in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by Pierce's homer. McQuillin then closed the door with three more strikeouts in the seventh.
 
Game 2: #12 Arizona 10, Kent State 0 (5 innings)
 
Twelfth-ranked Arizona plated 10 runs on 12 hits and cruised a nightcap mercy-shortened victory over Kent State, 10-0.
 
Seven of the runs came in a marathon of a fifth inning in which both Jessie Harper and Izzy Pacho hit home runs. The home run was Harper's ninth of the season and 46th of her career while Pacho's homer was the first of her career.
 
Gina Snyder (1-0), in her first start of 2019 and first ever start in Hillenbrand Stadium, was dominant in the circle for the Cats. She took a no-hitter into the fourth and ended her night giving up a single hit over four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. Hanah Bowen pitched a perfect fifth to close out the game.
 
Eight different Wildcats recorded hits in the game, including two-hit affairs from Harper, Ivy Davis and Hannah Martinez, who now has four hits in her last two starts dating back to last weekend, including a two-run triple tonight.
 
Dejah Mulipola and Tamara Statman drove in runs in the bottom of the first to give the Cats the early 2-0 lead before Reyna Carranco drove in a run in the second to give the Cats a 3-0 advantage.
 
The 3-0 lead stood until the Cats broke open the game with seven runs on six hits in the fourth.
 
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