Gilbert Arenas recently tweeted this photo of him face-planking a cake.

Sports Illustrated released its Twitter 100 list for the sports world, and two very different Arizona Wildcats made the list.

There is the unpredictable (is that a nice way to put it?) Gilbert Arenas, whose recent obsession with planking compelled our Christopher Wuensch to not only chronicle it but join in.

And then there’s Jennie Finch, who, on Twitter, just as in real life, is one of the sun-shiniest people on the planet.

Check out this Finch tweet from Thursday afternoon:

Sometimes all you need is a piece of watermelon Bubblicious gum & chew it like your 10 years old!

On the other hand, there was this from Arenas:

my twitter is for jokes and trash talkin if u dont like it go follow sumbody who cares about there image and wont say honest stuff

(University of Arizona alum Jeff Goodman, a national college basketball writer for CBSSports.com, is also on the Twitter 100 list … as he should be. He had news Thursday about Arizona sophomore guard Jordin Mayes undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in his foot.)

If only Jennie Finch could tweet to us why she was holding a soccer ball during the All-Star legends and celebrity softball game at Chase Field. Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

As far as a UA-related Twitter list, who do you think should be on it?

It should start with athletic director Greg Byrne, who in the past several months has broken news on Twitter about football assistant coaches and basketball coach Sean Miller’s contract extension. And he gives away free stuff, too.

Derrick Williams is off to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he is still entertaining and prolific on Twitter. There might not be a better place to follow his rookie season … whenever that will begin.

In addition to Arenas and Finch, there are all sorts of current and former players to follow, depending on which flavor you prefer. Same with following the local media.

If you’re new (or going to be new to Twitter), this list is one place to start for your Wildcat needs.

Let us know who you prefer.

You can follow the TucsonCitizen.com network on Twitter to get a feed of all our stories. But we have plenty of other things to say on our personal accounts — here’s Javier Morales, Christopher Wuensch, Steve Rivera, Brad Allis, Scott Terrell, the 110SportsPodcast (Matt Minkus and Victor Rodriguez) … and mine.

Photo by Jerry Lai, US Presswire

Congratulations to Arizona Wildcats softball great Jennie Finch, who told People that she is pregnant.

This will be the second child for Finch and her husband Casey Daigle, who pitched in 13 games last season for the Houston Astros. Ace is 4 years old.

Finch, 30, wrote on Twitter: So happy 2 share our baby news & relieved because there is no more sucking this poor baby in! Baby Deuce (Ace & now Deuce) is poppin out!

The name Ace was a nod to the couple’s pitching prowess.

Might we suggest Win for a boy — although that fortuitous pitcher’s name wasn’t so successful for former Boston Red Sox hurler Win Remmerswaal — and Wynne for a girl?

Finch won an NCAA-record 60 consecutive games at Arizona and led UA to the 2001 national title.

Jennie Finch won an NCAA-record 60 consecutive games at Arizona and led the Wildcats to the 2001 national title/Photo by Jerry Lai, US Presswire

Sometime in the mid 1990s, Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea took notice of Jennie Finch at a national tournament.

“I would say it would have been at 16-and-unders that I spotted her and started to follow her,” he said Tuesday. “She was a skinny little thing who could throw hard.”

Candrea and everyone in softball knew that Finch was going to be good. But how good? Nobody could have expected Finch to do what she did — at Arizona and then with Team USA, using her good looks, athletic ability and sunny personality to eventually transcending the sport nationally and internationally.

And, now, she is ready to close a chapter.

At 29, Finch announced Tuesday that she will retire from competitive softball next month. She will have a final go-round with Team USA at the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City this week, and then will wrap up the National Pro Fastpitch season with the Chicago Bandits.

“This whole career has been way more than I ever even imagined or dreamed,” Finch told The Associated Press. “The opportunities that I’d be able to enjoy and appreciate and be a part of, it’s been incredible.”

Finch said she wanted to devote more time to her family — husband Casey Daigle (a pitcher in the Houston Astros organization) and 4-year-old son, Ace. She said she would like to have more children.

“I’m happy for her and just very proud of the fact that she played at the University of Arizona,” Candrea said. “She has done so much for the sport. She always treated people right and did things the right way.

“It’s a sad day for softball because she was definitely good for the sport.”

I have more about Finch at FoxSportsArizona.com: Softball losing more than a pretty face

(slideshow after the jump)

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The second printing of the UA schedule poster won't include now-departed Delashaun Dean, No. 18 on the left.

In an interview this week with Fox 11′s Vinnie Vinzetta, Arizona football coach Mike Stoops said that “outside of Autzen Stadium, I think we have the best stadium in the Pac-10 when you look at the overall environment. Hopefully, that will improve and we can have the same environment that they do in Oregon.”

The Zona Zoo deserves a lot of credit for making Arizona Stadium a much crazier place that it used to be on game day, and, hopefully, the student section now has learned its lesson about prematurely rushing the field.

A full Stoops interview will appear on Fox 11′s Sports Force on Sunday night. …

Arizona quarterback Nick Foles was selected last week to the watch list for the Davey O’Brien quarterback award, which only seems right. There are 30 names on the list, and Foles is probably around 20 to 25 if you had to rank everyone in order.

Foles is not taking a second-semester summer class, but he did in the first session, when his routine also included about two hours in the weight room with strength coach Corey Edmond, followed by working on quarterback fundamentals for 15 to 30 minutes, and then some one-on-ones and seven-on-seven drills with his teammates in the late afternoon. …

Foles told us this week that in the wake of the transfer of senior receiver Delashaun Dean that inside receiver David Douglas is now working at the “Z” outside position in informal workouts. The pre-fall depth chart lists Travis Cobb (who made no impact in the passing game last season) and junior college transfer Dexter Ransom at “Z”.

(more…)

DeWayne Peace moved to cornerback in the spring.

The Arizona Wildcats football team is losing redshirt freshman cornerback DeWayne Peace, who will transfer closer to home, according to WildcatSportsReport.com, a partner in the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network.

Peace, from Grand Prairie, Texas, will transfer to Blinn College, a junior college in Brenham, Texas.

Peace, who showed good athleticism and speed in scrimmage situations, was a scout team receiver last fall but was moved to defense in the spring. He was not on the two-deep depth chart released by the school after spring ball.

(more…)

Jennie Finch is currently competing for Team USA at the ISF World Championship in Venezuela.

The website WildAboutAZCats.com — one of our partners in the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network — has been running a bracket contest called “Bear Down Leader.”

It has pitted 32 of the greatest Arizona Wildcats athletes of all-time against each other, with readers voting for the winner.

It’s not strictly a “who’s best” argument, or who had the most lucrative pro career, or who is the most famous.

The way I’ve interpreted the competition is like this: Which former UA athlete do you think best represents Arizona?

The answer to that, for me, is Jennie Finch.

(more…)

Arizona-UCLA. It’s been the best rivalry in college softball for two decades, with many of the biggest names in the sport taking part.

Leah O’Brien. Lisa Fernandez. Nancy Evans. Stacey Nuveman. Jennie Finch. Natasha Watley.

When the teams first met for the national title in 1991, current UA pitcher Kenzie Fowler was about five weeks old.

The two most dominant programs in college softball history have met for the title at the Women’s College Series six times, with the Wildcats winning four, UCLA winning one … and the other one stripped from the Bruins because of NCAA violations.

They will meet again this season, this time with a twist. They haven’t met at all at the World Series since 2001, and this is the first time they have met since the NCAA instituted the best-of-three championship series.

Arizona and UCLA met three times this season, all at Hillenbrand Stadium, on the regular-season’s final weekend, May 13-15.

UCLA won two of three in a strange weekend — Arizona pitchers Fowler (pinched nerve in her neck) and Sarah Akamine (knee) each suffered injuries and had to be pulled from games.

The Bruins won the opener 6-5. Arizona won the second game 5-3. UCLA won the rubber match 6-4.

It should be a fascinating championship series, which begins Monday. To get you in the mood, here’s a look at the six previous years in which Arizona and UCLA met for the title:

1991: ARIZONA 5, UCLA 1

The Wildcats had been to the previous three World Series, but this was the breakthrough season thanks to transfer pitcher Debby Day, who was the ace that Arizona hadn’t quite had before. Day began a amazing streak of 17 consecutive seasons in which the Wildcats produced an All-American pitcher.

She looked the part at the Series — UA won three 1-0 games, all in extra innings — before the final against UCLA. Once there, Day out-dueled two Bruins pitchers — Heather Compton and Lisa Fernandez, who began the game at third base.

Sweet-swinging lefty Julie Jones hit a two-run triple off Compton to give the Wildcats the lead. Fernandez homered off Day, but that was all the UCLA scoring.

And the rivalry was on.

“UCLA, back them, just kind of sat there and everyone came to them,” Arizona coach Mike Candrea told me a few years ago.

“Then, all of a sudden, kids had different options. We started getting better and better athletes … and then it’s been a matter of not getting full of ourselves.”

UA All-Americans: SS Julie Standering (first team); 1B Julie Jones (second team); P Debby Day (third team).

1991 Series highlights video link.

1992: UCLA 2, ARIZONA 0

The programs were now battling on an equal level. The Bruins started the season with 33 consecutive victories but then lost to Arizona, which beat UCLA twice in the regular season and won its first Pac-10 title.

UCLA got revenge in the title game, though, led by the shutout pitching of Lisa Fernandez (four hits, one walk and six strikeouts). When Arizona did have baserunners, UCLA catcher Kelly Inouye — now the Bruins head coach — erased them, throwing out three would-be base-stealers, including leadoff hitter Amy Chellevold, who had three hits.

Debby Day was equally stingy … until the bottom of the seventh. Yvonne Gutierrez led off the inning with a single, and Jenny Brewster followed with a one-out walk-off homer.

UCLA finished the season at 54-2, with both losses coming to the Cats.

UA All-Americans: P Debby Day and C Jody Miller-Pruitt (first team); OF Jamie Heggen and P Susie Parra (second team); 1B Amy Chellevold (third team)

1992 Series highlights video link.

1993: ARIZONA 1, UCLA 0

This was the first season in which the NCAA used the harder, yellow optic ball, an attempt to introduce more offense into the sport. It was a start. Led by shortstop Laura Espinoza, Arizona led the nation with 36 home runs (consider that UA hit a then-NCAA record 134 last season, before Hawaii smashed that mark in 2010.)

In the title game, the Wildcats got only one hit off UCLA All-American Lisa Fernandez, but it was enough.

Arizona’s Amy Chellevold reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the first. After Chellevold advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, freshman Leah O’Brien — who might have hit good pitching better than any Wildcat ever — lined a single over Fernandez’s head to score what would be the only run of the game.

Arizona junior pitcher Susie Parra did the rest, allowing two hits and striking out six, including three in the seventh inning to clinch the game. She needed only 75 pitches to get through the game.

UA All-Americans: P Susie Parra and OF Jamie Heggen (first team); SS Laura Espinoza, 1B Amy Chellevold and C Jody Miller-Pruitt (second team)

1993 Series highlights video link.

1995: UCLA 4, ARIZONA 2

The most infamous of all World Series championships, and the one that still burns Arizona fans.

During the season, the Bruins imported Australian pitcher Tanya Harding, who enrolled at UCLA for the quarter break. Harding was one of the best pitchers in the world and she overmatched most college opposition.

Harding won all four of UCLA’s game at the World Series and also batted. 500, earning tournament MVP honors. Arizona had its chances off her in the title game, but couldn’t come up with enough key hits.

UCLA’s Kelly Howard hit a two-run home run in the fifth off Carrie Dolan to break a 2-2 tie and lift the Bruins to victory.

Later that week, Harding withdrew from classes, never finishing one quarter’s worth of work. Although UCLA officials at the time claimed they did nothing illegal, the situation had an undeniable stench … and the NCAA later ruled that the Bruins had done something illegal.

Harding’s case was tied to scholarship violations. The NCAA ruled that UCLA had been using softball players on soccer scholarships, and was, in fact, three scholarships over the limit in the 1995 season.

The NCAA made UCLA give up the 1995 title … which remains vacant.

UA All-Americans: C Leah Braatz, 1B Amy Chellevold, 2B Jenny Dalton, P Carrie Dolan, SS Laura Espinoza and OF Leah O’Brien (first team)

1995 Series highlights video link.

1997: ARIZONA 10, UCLA 2 (5 innings)

This was the Year of Nancy Evans. She pitched all five games for Arizona at the World Series; basically, she had to after Carrie Dolan was kicked off the team before the trip for disciplinary reasons.

The title game was a laugher — the eight-run mercy rule had to be invoked for the first time in a Series final. The key battle came three days earlier in a second-round winners’ bracket game.

Evans, in one of the greatest performances ever for an Arizona pitcher, held a powerful UCLA lineup — one that included freshman catcher Stacey Nuveman — scoreless for 14 innings in an epic pitcher’s duel against Christa Williams. Arizona finally prevailed 2-0, and coach Mike Candrea, as he sat down at the interview table after the game said, “Best heavyweight fight I’ve seen since Ali-Frazier.”

Evans helped herself in the title game with a two-run double in the first inning en route to tournament MVP honors. “I can’t believe her tenacity all week. That takes a special person,” Candrea said.

UA All-Americans: P Nancy Evans, C Leah Braatz, 1B Leah O’Brien, OF Alison Johnsen and 3B Leticia Pineda (first team)

1997 Series highlights video link.

2001: ARIZONA 1, UCLA 0

Jennie Finch was perfect in 2001.

Jennie Finch was unbeatable all season, and she wasn’t going to let UCLA spoil that at the end. Finch pitched a four-hit shutout, striking out seven and walking two, to run her record to 32-0.

The Bruins’ Amanda Freed was plenty tough, too, in the title game, allowing only three hits. One of those was to catcher Lindsey Collins, who took a pitch over the fence in right-center field with one out in the fourth inning.

Finch, a junior, beat UCLA three times that season, all by shutout, and would earn national player of the year honors.

UA All-Americans: P Jennie Finch, 3B Toni Mascarenas, OF Lauren Bauer and DP Leneah Manuma (first team); OF Nicole Giordano (third team)

2001 Series highlights video link.

Jennie Finch's 60 consecutive pitching victories might be the most impressive individual streak in Arizona history.

The Arizona Wildcats have the now dearly departed Streak in basketball — 25 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Thanks, Lute.

Arizona has The Streak in football — the upset-filled nine-season unbeaten run against Arizona State, from 1982 to 1990. Thanks, Larry Smith and Dick Tomey.

Arizona has so much more.

With a big boost from coach Mike Candrea‘s eight-time national championship softball program, the Wildcats have plenty of other (lower-case) streaks to celebrate.

Here are 12 of the best team streaks, in no particular order:

1. Softball’s 16 consecutive appearances in the College World Series, from 1988 to 2003. If not for a shocking upset in the regionals when the Wildcats were ranked No. 1 under interim head coach Larry Ray, the streak would be up to 22.

2. Softball’s 17 consecutive seasons with an All-American pitcher, from 1991 (Debby Day) to 2007 (Taryne Mowatt). This helps explain that College World Series streak.

3. Men’s basketball 71-game winning streak in McKale Center (1987-1992). It included a double-overtime win against eventual national champion Duke in 1991 and ended with an 89-87 loss to UCLA on Jan. 11, 1992.

4. Softball’s 18 consecutive years of being ranked No. 1 at some point of the season. That streak ended in 2009.

5. Women’s swimming current streak of 19 consecutive top 10 finishes in the NCAA meet. Thanks, Frank Busch. (The women also have a streak of six top three finishes in a row.)

6. Men’s swimming current streak of 12 consecutive top 8 national finishes in the NCAAs. Thanks again, Frank Busch. (Men’s and women’s swimming each won a national title in 2008.)

7. Men’s basketball 312 consecutive appearances in the AP regular-season poll. But not one week in 2009-10.

Not only was Lute Olson the author of the The Streak, he had significant runs at McKale Center and in the AP poll/Tucson Citizen photo

8. Softball’s 38-game winning streak over Arizona State (1991-2000). All the more amazing because the Sun Devils had a decent program, but Candrea owned his alma mater.

9. Men’s basketball’s 81-game winning streak in Bear Down Gym (1945-51). All that in the watch of coach Fred Enke.

10. Football’s 214-game scoring streak. It started with the 1972 season and ended with a 28-0 loss to Syracuse in the 1990 Aloha Bowl. It was the second-longest streak in the nation at the time.

11. Softball’s 47-game winning streak from April 1996 to March 1997. That’s an NCAA record.

12. And here’s one more from softball: The Wildcats had a 70-game winning streak at Hillenbrand Stadium from 2000 to 2002).

Individually, it’s hard to believe anything tops Jennie Finch‘s 60 consecutive pitching victories from 2000 to 2002. Another super softball streak: Caitlin Lowe stole 56 bases without being caught.

In softball, Amy Chellevold has the school’s longest hitting streak at 30 games. The baseball hitting streak belongs to Brian Anderson (2003) and Jason Donald (2006) at 26 games.

More impressive might be what Jake Thrower did in 1997. He had hits in 11 consecutive at-bats.

Have a favorite streak we missed? Let us know in the comments section or at anthonygimino (at) gmail.com.

Sean Miller/Wildcat Sports Report photo

(UA notebook compiled from members of the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network. Some of these notes first appeared in the weekly “Nothing but the Notes” column on wildaboutazcats.com. Find more notes there in this weekend’s edition.)

So much for the McKale magic.

It’s hard to believe. In less than three Lute Olson-less seasons, Arizona has lost at home to eight of the other nine Pac-10 teams. The only conference team that has failed to win in Tucson since 2008: Washington. Go figure.

Saturday night’s 63-55 loss to Oregon State might have been the most painful, the one that double locks the door against Arizona’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team.

“This crowd and this arena is so spectacular, and they tried to will us to win,” coach Sean Miller said Saturday night. “And we had no answer.” …

Just too young?

According to StatSheet.com, only two other major-conference Division I schools have at least five freshmen and no more than two upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) like Arizona. They are Iowa (which like the Cats has five freshmen, one junior and one senior) and Washington State (which has eight freshmen, no juniors and one senior). The Wildcats depend on their freshmen far more than the Hawkeyes and Cougars — or any other major-college program for that matter. The UA frosh account for 47.4 percent of the team’s scoring (34.2 points per game out of 72.1 overall). Iowa’s percentage is 34.2 (24.3 points per game out of 70.9) while Wazzu’s mark is 33.2 (25 points per game out of 75.2). With such an influx of talent, and a brand new coaching staff, it’s not really a surprise that Arizona is way on the wrong side of the bubble. …

TucsonCitizen.com video:
Miller talks about his five freshman (Feb. 9)

Miller talks about MoMo Jones (Feb. 11)

Wes Bunting at the National Football Post wrote this recently about ex-UA cornerback Devin Ross‘ performance in the week of the East-West Shrine Game practices: “For a guy who showcases as much closing speed as Ross in coverage, you’d think he would be able to make more plays on the football. However, he isn’t a real instinctive corner and consistently gets caught bailing out of his back-pedal and opening his hips too early in his drop. There’s no doubt this guy has the ability to play on the outside at the next level from an athletic standpoint, but as of now he simply gives up too many plays and lacks the instincts to be trusted on an island in the NFL.” … Don’t expect to hear much from former UA defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, who is now the coordinator at Florida State. New head coach Jimbo Fisher has put his assistant coaches off limits to the media, with a one-time exception for the new guys. Too bad. Stoops is a thoughtful interviewee who is pretty honest in his assessments. …

While it’s true that Arizona has offered a scholarship to power forward Jesse Perry of John A. Logan Junior College of Carterville, Ill., the UA coaches are likely keeping an eye on what Manhattan (N.Y.) Rice High School forward Kadeem Jack decides first. Perry will officially visit Arizona after Logan’s season ends next month. Perry, 6-foot-8 and originally from St. Louis, is averaging 15.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and nearly 2 blocked shots per game this season. In a victory over Olney (Ill.) Central College on Thursday, Perry made 17 of 21 free-throw attempts. Arizona stands apart from its competition for Perry: Southern Illinois, Alabama-Birmingham and Iowa State. Rivals.com reports that the UA is the only school that has offered a scholarship. …

Former UA running back Mike Bell, who fashioned a nice comeback season with a team-high 172 carries for 654 yards for the New Orleans Saints, had a regrettable play in the Super Bowl when he slipped on an off-tackle run on third-and-goal from the 1 late in the first half. The biggest television audience in history watched that play. But what you didn’t see was the exchange that took place as Bell returned to the sideline. Saints coach Sean Payton asks Bell, “What kind of shoes you got on?” and Bell shows him the bottom of his left shoe. Payton then yells as Bell walks away, “That (expletive) figures. Put on the cleats!” Yeah, it helps to have the right shoes. You can watch the NFL Films highlights, with wired sound from players and coaches, at NFL.com. Good stuff. …

TucsonCitizen.com blogger Matt Minkus interviewed ex-UA center and current Phoenix Suns player Channing Frye for his podcast at radioexiles.com. Frye recently had his jersey number retired at his high school, Phoenix St. Mary’s, an event that was attended by Olson. Frye, Olson, friends and family members went to dinner afterward. “Coach O is great,” Frye said. “He is probably in better health now than I’ve seen him in a long time. He’s healthy. He’s relaxed. His memory is great. We were just talking about old times and some of his players. We sat there about 2 1/2 hours and just talked and reminisced about the good old days.” …

Jennie Finch

Jennie Finch was selected the 2009 USA Softball Female Athlete of the Year. Finch was the MVP of the Japan Cup, throwing a one-hitter and hitting a two-run double in a 2-0 title game victory over Japan, to (somewhat) avenge a loss to the Japanese team in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Finch also led Team USA to the championship of the Canada Cup, with a two-out walk-off single for a 3-2 win over Canada. In three events — the U.S. also won the World Cup of Softball — Finch was 5-0 with a 0.54 ERA and she hit .447. “I am completely honored all the way around to not only play for our great country but also to be recognized out of a group of extremely talented athletes. I am surrounded by amazing women and feel blessed to be a part of USA Softball,” Finch said in a release. “I feel privileged to still have the opportunity to play the game I love at this stage in my life. Just to wear USA across my chest is a great honor and I am grateful for the opportunities I continue to have.” … UA’s next great pitcher, freshman Kenzie Fowler, struck out 18 batters in a 4-3 win over 15th-ranked Northwestern on Saturday. The school record for strikeouts is 20, set by Alicia Hollowell in a seven-inning perfect game against Indiana in 2004. Yep, she struck out 20 of 21 batters. That will be tough to top.

Softball is out of the Olympic Games, but there is still a Team USA, and that team retains an Arizona presence.

Two ex-Cats — pitcher Jennie Finch and outfielder Caitlin Lowe — were selected as one of 17 members of the 2010 U.S. national team Monday. Finch is a two-time Olympian. Lowe participated in the 2008 Games.

Arizona junior outfielder Brittany Lastrapes was chosen as one of 13 alternates, as was former UA third baseman Jenae Leles, who completed her eligibility last season. They could still make the final roster, which won’t be set until March, pending player agreement to be on the team.

Team USA will compete in the ISF Women’s World Championships from June 23-July 2 in Caracas, Venezuela, among other events.

For the full roster, go to USA Softball’s official site.