THE GAMES (Times MST)
32 | Friday, March 29 |  8,  0 (5) | Recap | Box Score (PDF)
33 | Saturday, March 30 |  8,  0 (5) | Recap | Box Score (PDF)
34 | Sunday, March 31 (4 p.m.) |  vs.  | ESPN 2 | Live Stats | Twitter Updates
   

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THIS WEEK: Eleventh-ranked Arizona (24-7, 6-0 Pac-12) returns home this weekend to host 17th-ranked Arizona State (25-8, 5-1 Pac-12) in a key three-game series at Hillenbrand Stadium. The two top home run hitting teams in the country get together to see which pitching staff can cool off the other's red hot offense. The Wildcats will look to take the series from the Sun Devils for the fourth straight season after taking 2-of-3 each of last three seasons. UA and ASU are set to meet Friday (5 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m.) on the Pac-12 Networks and Sunday (4 p.m.) on ESPN 2. The games are sold out, but a limited number of standing-room-only tickets will be sold on the day of the game.

LEADING OFF

• It's rivalry weekend at Hillenbrand Stadium, where the two top home run hitting teams in the country square off in a key three-game series. After hitting 19 home runs over the first six games of Pac-12 play, Arizona State took the lead (1.94 hr/game) over the now-second-place Wildcats (1.84).
• Arizona owns a 95-45-1 all-time record vs. Arizona State and has won each of the last three series, including last season, winning games 2 and 3 against the eighth-ranked Sun Devils in Tempe.
• The Wildcats are 6-0 in Pac-12 play after sweeping Oregon and Oregon State to open the conference season, outscoring the Ducks and the Beavers 48-8 in the process.
• Dating back to last season, Arizona has won five consecutive Pac-12 series after its two sweeps to open conference play this season. UA is 6-0 for just the second time (2017) since 2004.
• Arizona pitchers have posted a 0.76 ERA in conference play, led by Alyssa Denham, who has not allowed an earned run in 9.2 innings this Pac-12 season. Seven of those 9.2 innings came during her first career no-hitter last weekend at Oregon State, which came on Sunday, also her 21st birthday. Denham was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week.
• Arizona has won 20 of its last 23 games, with its only three losses in that span coming to the current No. 2 (Oklahoma) and No. 3 (Florida State) ranked teams in the country by a combined four runs.
• The Wildcats are seventh in this week's NCAA RPI, a metric heavily relied on for NCAA Tournament seeding. UA is No. 11 in the NFCA Top 25. 
• Through 31 games, Arizona has played 10 games against ranked opponents and has a 5-5 record in those games. All five losses are to top-six opponents. Despite the 1-5 record, in six games vs. (current rankings) No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Alabama and No. 6 Florida, UA has been outscored by just two runs (21-23) and has 11 more hits (40-29).
• The Wildcats hit six home runs during their sweep of Oregon State, giving them 15 in six Pac-12 games this season. UA is second in the nation with 57 homers (1.84/game), its most through 31 games since 2010 (57).
• Arizona is the only team in the country with three players with double-digit home runs; Jessie Harper leads the Pac-12 and is second nationally with 17 home runs, Dejah Mulipola is third in the Pac-12 and tied for eighth in the country with 13 home runs and Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza is fifth in the league and tied for 24th nationally with 10 homers.
• Reyna Carranco has been one of the hottest hitters in the country over the last four weeks. The junior is on a career-long 13-game hitting streak and has multiple hits in 10 of them. She is hitting .566 during the streak, raising her average to a team-best .462, second in the Pac-12 and tied for 19th in the Pac-12.
• Arizona's offense has been heating up with the weather. In the month of March (16 games), Arizona is averaging 7.69 runs/game and is hitting 2.00 home runs per game after scoring 5.33 runs and hitting 1.67 homers per game in February (15 games).
• Arizona head coach Mike Candrea enters the weekend four wins shy of Michigan's Carol Hutchins for the most career wins in NCAA softball history. Candrea, who is in his 32nd year of coaching at Arizona, has won 1,587 wins while Hutchins has 1,591 over 36 seasons of coaching.

NOTES ON THE SUN DEVILS (25-8, 5-1 Pac-12)

• Arizona State is ranked No. 18 in the NFCA Top 25, No. 13 in the USA Softball Top 25 and No. 29 in the NCAA RPI.
• Statistically, the Sun Devils have the top offense in the country, scoring 9.12 runs per game, more than a run more than the second most prolific offense in the country. As a team, ASU hits .355 (5th in the country), slugs .696 (1st in the country) and has hit 64 home runs (1st in the country).
• ASU is led offensively by the Hackbarth twins; Kindra Hackbarth leads the team with a .449 average and has 14 doubles and 11 homers while Maddi Hackbarth, the reigning USA Softball Player of the Week, has 16 home runs and 43 RBI.
• Arizona State has spent six of the seven weeks of 2019 at home and has only left Tempe one time this season. This series will be the first time the Sun Devils have played a true road game in 2019. 
• While ASU has boasted a powerful offense, it has struggled in the circle. ASU has a 3.74 team ERA, seventh in the Pac-12. They have just 122 strikeouts in 200 innings but have walked 100 batters. 

ARIZONA vs. ARIZONA STATE

• Arizona is 95-45-1 (.677) all-time vs. Arizona State and has won each of the last three series.
• Facing eighth-ranked ASU in Tempe last season, the 13th-ranked Wildcats took the series. The Sun Devils walked off in a pitcher's duel in game 1 (2-1) before Alyssa Denham threw a two-hitter in a 4-1 Wildcat win in game 2 to even the series. In game 3, Jessie Harper hit a two-run double in the top of the eighth to lead the Cats to a series win.

LAST WEEK

• Arizona swept Oregon State last week, outscoring the Beavers 24-5 over the sweep.
• Arizona's four pitchers posted a 1.11 ERA, with the only three earned runs the Cats surrendered coming on a grand slam in game 2.
• Alyssa Denham threw a no-hitter on Sunday, the first of her career, coming on her 21st birthday. She struck out eight and did not allow a ball out of the infield (10 groundouts, 8 strikeouts, 2 infield pop ups, 1 caught stealing).
• Jessie Harper led the offense with four home runs, driving in 10 runs over the three games. She hit .455 and slugged 1.727 in 11 at-bats.
• Reyna Carranco extended her hitting streak to 13 games, posting a team-best .545 average in the series.
• The Wildcats run-ruled Oregon State, 9-1, in game 1. Jessie Harper homered twice while Taylor McQuillin did not allow an earned run over five innings; she allowed three hits and struck out twice.
• Arizona won game 2, 11-4, scoring eight runs over the first two innings and then adding on three late. Sophomore Hanah Bowen was nearly perfect in relief, pitching 4.2 scoreless innings allowing just one base-runner (a sixth-inning) double and picked up her first career Pac-12 win.
• Denham's no-hitter led the Cats to the sweep on Sunday. Harper hit her fourth homer of the weekend while Malia Martinez hit her second of the series.

RANKINGS

• This week, Arizona remained 11th in NFCA Top 25,  and moved up to ninth in the USA Softball Top 25 (from 10th) and 10th in the Softball America Top 25 (from 11th).
• UA is seventh in this week's NCAA RPI.
• The Wildcats started the season ranked seventh in the NFCA Top 25 and Softball America Top 25 and sixth in the USA Softball Top 25.
• Arizona is one of four Pac-12 teams in the top 25 (all in the top 18).

WHO'S HOT?

• Reyna Carranco: The junior is on an absolute tear at the plate. She enters the weekend on a career-long 13-game hitting streak, hitting .566 during the streak, including six doubles and two home runs. She has multiple hits in 10 of those 13 games, averaging exactly 2.0 hits during the streak. Carranco leads the team in multiple-hit games (18) and batting average (.462 - 2nd in the Pac-12). Carranco is tied for fourth in the country in hits (48). Thirty one games into the season, Carranco has already posted a career high in home runs (4) while and has tied her career high in RBI (28).
• Jessie Harper: In 11 at-bats in Corvallis, Harper hit four home runs and one triple, driving in 10 runs while hitting .455 and slugging 1.727 in the series. In the month of March (16 games), Harper is hitting .389 and slugging 1.074 with 11 of her 17 home runs. She is second nationally, one behind Georgia's Alyssa DiCarlo, for the NCAA lead in long balls. 
• Rylee Pierce: After a slow start to her Wildcat career, the senior transfer from Missouri has reached base in 14 of her last 16 appearances and is swinging a hot bat in conference play. Pierce is 8-for-16 (.500) in six Pac-12 games with three doubles, a home run and three RBI. 
• Hanah Bowen: The sophomore carries a miniscule 0.45 ERA on the season and has thrown 12 consecutive scoreless innings over six appearances. In those 12 clean frames, Bowen has allowed just four hits and has zero walks. On Saturday in Corvallis, Bowen picked up her first career Pac-12 win, pitching 4.2 nearly perfect innings of relief in a game 2 victory over Oregon State. 
• Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza: The 2018 first-team All-American has been a consistent force all season long and is hitting .378 with 10 home runs and is top-10 in the Pac-12 in doubles (3rd - 11), home runs (5th - 10), RBI (5th - 36), slugging percentage (6th - .816) and on-base percentage (7th - .483). Palomino-Cardoza saw her 12-game hitting streak come to an end last weekend; during that hitting streak she had eight straight games with an extra-base-hit, the longest XBH streak since Katiyana Mauga (March 15-29, 2015).
• Alyssa Denham: The junior's no-hitter on her birthday vs. the Beavers was the 92nd in Arizona history and the first since Feb. 11, 2018 (Taylor McQuillin vs. New Mexico). Denham is one of only two qualified pitchers in the Pac-12 to not have allowed an earned run in league play (Rachel Garcia, UCLA).

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

• When it's all said and done, Arizona will play what is sure to be among the toughest schedules in the country. Arizona's schedule includes each of the top seven teams from the final 2018 NFCA Top 25 (and 11 total ranked teams), 17 games against 2018 WCWS teams, 21 2018 NCAA Tournament teams and home series vs. the defending national champions (Florida State; March 8-10) and national runners up (Washington; May 3-5).
• The Wildcats will play or have already played six of top seven teams in the current NFCA Top 25. In all, UA's schedule includes 11 teams currently ranked in the top 25.
• Arizona played at least one ranked team in each of the first five weeks of the season, including top-10 teams in four of them. The Wildcats are currently 5-5 vs. ranked teams this year.
• Since 1994, Arizona is above .500 against ranked teams, top-10 teams and top-five competition. UA is 569-267-1 (.690) against ranked competition, 266-179 (.617) against top-10 teams and 130-126 (.536) against top-five teams.

STATISTICAL TRENDS AND NUGGETS

• Arizona is 21-0 when scoring more than three runs and 3-7 when scoring fewer.
• In 14 games away from Hillenbrand Stadium, Arizona is fielding .992. Compare that to a .953 fielding percentage in 17 games at home this season. Overall, the Wildcats have been significantly better defensively recently. UA has just six errors in its last 11 games, a .980 fielding percentage after posting a .965 fielding percentage over the first 20 games of the season.
• Six of Arizona's seven losses have come during the day; UA is 11-1 at night and 13-6 during day games.
• Arizona has scored double-digit runs in eight of its first 31 games, already more than UA's 59-game total from last season (6).
• The Wildcats are outscoring their opponents 49-9 in the first inning. UA is 20-2 this season when it scores first.
• The top five hitters on the team (by batting average) are all juniors. UA's junior class (Reyna Carranco, Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza, Jessie Harper, Malia Martinez, Dejah Mulipola) is hitting .379 with 47 of UA's 57 home runs.

MERCY, MERCY

• Arizona has run-rule victories in 10 of its 24 wins this season, including six of its last nine victories.
• On March 9, Arizona run-ruled then-top-ranked Florida State, 11-3, in five innings. UA became the first team since April 5, 2014 to run-rule the NFCA No. 1 team (#3 Oregon 12, #1 UCLA 4; 5 innings).