Fowler

Arizona Wildcats sophomore pitcher Kenzie Fowler has been selected the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week.

Fowler led Arizona to a three-game sweep at Stanford last weekend as the Cats opened Pac-10 play. She shut out the Cardinal in the first and third games, while saving the second in relief of Shelby Babcock.

Fowler allowed only four hits in 15 1/3 innings, striking out 17 and walking seven.

For the season, Fowler is 20-4 with a 1.57 ERA.

Arizona starts a three-game series at Oregon State on Friday before returning home for a nine-game conference homestand. That starts with a three-game set against Washington from April 15-17.

Arizona (32-6, 3-0 Pac-10) is ranked fifth in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll.

Fowler also won this national player of the week award as a freshman.

Where does the hiring of athletic director Greg Byrne rate on your list?
Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com

The “best of the year” lists are always tricky.

For the calendar year that was in Arizona Wildcats athletics, do you pick specific games, specific moments, or do you go with larger themes?

Do you choose only the good things? How do you balance the happenings in football and men’s basketball with the success in other sports?

When our Gannett big brother, the Arizona Republic, asked us to come up with a top 10 list of storylines for UA, we muddled through all that and came up with the following Top 10 list.

You can see the Republic’s Year in Review slideshows for all the state-wide sports topics on azcentral.com.

Before you click on that link, vote in our poll and let us know what you you think is the biggest storyline of the year for the Wildcats.

(What did we miss? I’ll get us started: I think basketball coach Sean Miller signing a Top 5 recruiting class in November is potentially worthy of the list as the clearest signal yet that he can restore the program to its previous heights.)

Anyway, on to the Top 10 storylines …

(more…)

Kenzie Fowler reacts on Sunday after a great running catch by left fielder Brittany Lastrapes against Tennessee/ESPN3.com screenshot

Rarely has Arizona asked a freshman pitcher to do so much, and never has a pitcher arrived on campus amid so much hype, such great expectations.

Kenzie Fowler‘s first season was a rousing success.

“It’s just great to see Kenzie as a freshman step up,” senior shortstop K’Lee Arredondo said at the press conference after the Wildcats lost to UCLA in the championship series of the Women’s College World Series on Tuesday night. “She’s my hero.”

If there was one thing we learned this season about the Wildcats, who finished 52-14, is that Fowler has the stuff of a champion.

She pitched Arizona to victory in four elimination games at the World Series — overcoming the illegal pitch calls that had not been made against her all season — and had done enough to get the victory in Game 1 of the championship series before the defense faltered with two outs in the seventh.

Before that, she overcame a pinched nerve in her neck that caused her pitching hand to swell in the last weekend of the regular season, and she continued on after being hit by a line drive in the Super Regionals, causing her forearm to turn black and blue.

But early in Tuesday’s game against the Bruins, enough was enough. Starting her sixth game in four days, the pinched nerve problem began to resurface. She was losing feeling in her arm and had trouble with her grip.

Fowler was pulled one batter into the second inning, ending her season.

“She has thrown a bunch. I mean, my God, she has really done a miraculous job to get us here and I told you I was going to ride her as much as I can,” Arizona coach Mike Candrea said at the postgame news conference.

“But when she can’t feel the ball, it’s time. I’m going to always put her health in front of the competition.”

Most star pitchers at Arizona have had the luxury to be eased into the competition. Not Fowler.

Arizona had Debby Day when Susie Parra arrived.

Arizona had Parra when Nancy Evans arrived.

Arizona had Becky Lemke when Jennie Finch came to Tucson.

Kenzie Fowler hugs coach Mike Candrea after the Wildcats beat Tennessee on Sunday to advance to the championship series against UCLA/ESPN3.com screenshot

The only season comparable to one Fowler just completed came in 2003, when Alicia Hollowell had to carry the staff as a freshman. Their numbers are similar.

Hollowell was 40-5, striking out 394 batters in 293 2/3 innings with a 0.94 ERA.

Fowler — facing today’s better bat technology and an explosion of power in the game — was 38-9, striking out 371 batters in 284 1/3 innings with a 1.53 ERA.

Like Fowler, Hollowell was arguably the top pitching recruit in the country at the time, but Hollowell, from California, never had to deal with the pressure of being the hometown kid. Fowler was a two-time Gatorade National Player of the Year at Canyon del Oro High School.

“The one comment that she would make during the season is that, ‘Gosh, the difference in this level of play, you just can’t let up,’” said Kenzie’s mom, Kelly Fowler.

“Every batter can hurt you. You can’t afford to miss a spot, or you will pay for it. … In high school, you could just cruise.”

No, Fowler couldn’t cruise, which makes her season all the more remarkable. She fought. She was mentally tough. Willing to play through injury.

Candrea says he never knows how a recruit will react under the brightest of lights. But now everyone knows about the kind of character Fowler is made of.

It makes you wish next season could start tomorrow.

So much for the Amanda Williams Era

With the 2010 season complete, this ends the Amanda Williams Era at Arizona.

Who?

In coach Mike Candrea‘s master plan, Kenzie Fowler would never have had to shoulder as much of the burden as she did this season. And wouldn’t it have been nice to have had a second ace to go to at the World Series?

Williams arrived at Arizona in the fall of 2006, yet another recruit considered the top pitching prospect in the country. Williams was supposed to be the bridge between Alicia Hollowell and Fowler.

But Williams lasted only a semester, academically ineligible. She never returned.

Without Williams around, Taryne Mowatt was forced to pitch almost 70 more innings in 2007 than anyone in school history — 370 innings in all — and yet she willed the Wildcats to the national title.

But Arizona has been shorthanded in pitching ever since. In 2008, Mowatt couldn’t repeat her 2007 performance. In 2009, Sarah Akamine and Lindsey Sisk weren’t ace material. In 2010, Fowler could have used a little more help. Williams was supposed to be a senior this season.

But Candrea and his coaching staff — although they looked for a transfer or another short-term solution after Williams left — failed to lure another pitching recruit. Everyone knew Fowler was arriving, and it was hard to bring in a recruit to compete with that.

So, the early departure of Williams was a major setback for the program … and still Arizona won a national title and played for another during the short-handed pitching years in which she should have been here.

Akamine has completed her eligibility, but next season, Fowler will be joined by Shelby Babcock — an ace-quality pitcher from Broomfield, Colo. Down the road, Arizona has a commitment from Nancy Bowling, who just completed her sophomore season at Royal High in Simi Valley, Calif.

It appears the pitching succession plan is back on track.

K'Lee Arredondo connects on the game-tying two-run home run in the seventh/ESPN3.com screenshot

It’s over. UCLA wins 6-5. Megan Langenfeld, with two outs, hits a walk-off home run to center field off Kenzie Fowler in the eighth inning. It was the second homer of the game for Langenfeld, the Pac-10 Player of the Year.

Should coach Mike Candrea have intentionally walked Langenfeld? Or at least pitch to her extremely carefully?

“Just be aggressive and get a pitch,” Langenfeld told ESPN after the game, talking about her approach in the at-bat. “And I did.”

The Wildcats have been on the brink for most of the Women’s College World Series, already having survived four elimination games before the best-of-three championship series. Here they are again.

The teams will play Game 2 on Tuesday night beginning at 5 p.m. Tucson time.

Game 1, from an Arizona perspective, will be remembered for the clutch home runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead and then the failure of outfielders Lauren Schutzler and Brittany Lastrapes to catch a two-out fly ball in the bottom of the seventh.

A big concern now is the fatigue factor with Fowler, who threw nearly 200 pitches Monday night and has thrown five games in three days.

* * *
Huge missed opportunity. Stacie Chambers, who homered earlier, strikes out looking with the bases loaded to end the eighth. How much does UA pitcher Kenzie Fowler have left?

* * *
Heartbreak for Arizona in the bottom of the seventh. Kenzie Fowler gets the first two outs, ready to close out the Bruins and looking for her first 1-2-3 inning of the game.

It was not to be.

Dani Yudin hit a fly ball to left-center field that center fielder Lauren Schutzler called for, but left fielder Brittany Lastrapes was also was trying to make a play on the ball. Schutzler pulled up, Lastrapes couldn’t make the catch, and the ball fell for a double.

After an intentional walk to Julie Burney, Kaila Shull hit a line drive to deep right. Karissa Buchanan went back, but the ball tipped off the top of her glove, driving in the tying run.

Fowler struck out B.B. Bates to end the inning … so we have bonus softball at the College World Series.

For Arizona, could have been worse, could have been better.

* * *
Going to the bottom of the seventh, Arizona up 5-4. This pretty much has to be the exact moment Kenzie Fowler has always dreamed about (just don’t walk the leadoff batter).

* * *
Arizona, down to its final three outs, overcomes a 4-2 deficit in the top of seventh. Lauren Schutzler led off with a walk, and then senior shortstop K’Lee Arredondo tied the game with an opposite-field home run that barely cleared the wall.

Like UCLA’s go-ahead hit in the sixth … yep, a game of inch.

But the Wildcats weren’t done. Stacie Chambers smacked a pitch to center, and this was a no-doubter. Her home run gave Arizona a 5-4 lead, chasing Megan Langenfeld from the game.

The Wildcats are still batting in the seventh, with Aleah Macon on to pitch for the Bruins.

Monica Harrison's two-run double in the sixth inning barely catches the left-field line/ESPN3.com screenshot

* * *
Call it a game of inch. UCLA takes the lead with a two-run double from Monica Harrison that kisses the left-field line. In fact, more of the ball was in foul territory than was on the line, but that was good enough to give the Bruins a 4-2 lead.

Arizona facing its last at-bats in the top of the seventh.

* * *
Playing with fire again. For the third time, Kenzie Fowler has walked the leadoff batter; this time it’s Julie Burney in the bottom of the sixth. Neither of the first two scored.

* * *
Arizona couldn’t have asked for a much better situation. Brittany Lastrapes, who has two hits tonight, was up with the go-ahead runner at third base. Lastrapes worked the count to 3-2, but then struck out on a 3-2 screwball from Megan Langenfeld that appeared to be out of the zone.

Going into the bottom of the sixth, who is going to get the timely hit?

* * *
Another hit for Megan Langenfeld. This time a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth. But Kenzie Fowler can’t be rattled.

When the Bruins put runners on second and third with one out, Fowler strikes out Samantha Camuso looking and then gets Dani Yudin swinging to end the inning.

UCLA has had nine baserunners through five innings, but Fowler’s nine strikeouts have helped limit the damage.

Anybody’s game heading into the sixth, tied at 2.

* * *
It’s a two-out rally for the Wildcats. Lauren Schutzler walks, followed by a single by K’Lee Arredondo and then the increasingly-hot bat of Stacie Chambers delivered a sharp single to right that easily drove in Schutzler to tie the game at 2 in the top of the fifth.

* * *
UCLA puts two runners on with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, but Kenzie Fowler strikes out the next two batters — giving her seven for the game — and gets a fly out to end the threat. UCLA still leads 2-1.

Arizona is introduced before the game against UCLA
Courtesy of the Fowler family

* * *
Kenzie Fowler’s mom, Kelly (who is getting some screen time from ESPN), managed to find time to send us a photo of the pre-game introductions at Hall of Fame Stadium. Kelly talked to us earlier Monday for this story on Kenzie.

* * *
Why does ESPN announcer Michele Smith insist on saying that it has been a long time since Arizona won the national championship? It’s only been since 2007. Bring back John Kruk to the Women’s College World Series.

* * *
Arizona is going to have to get Megan Langenfeld out at some point. She homered in the first inning and gave UCLA the lead in the third with a single that right fielder Karissa Buchanan couldn’t quite get.

She trapped the ball as GiOnna DiSalvatore scored from third. DiSalvatore began the inning with a double off the glove off left fielder Brittany Lastrapes, and she went to third on a wild pitch.

* * *
Now, it’s Arizona’s turn to get a break from the umpires. On a force play at second, the throw from UA third baseman Brigette Del Ponte pulls shortstop K’Lee Arredondo off the bag, but pinch-runner Grace Murray is called out.

That gave the Cats the first out of the inning, and then Kenzie Fowler struck out the next two batters.

UA fans in Oklahoma City celebrate the first run of the game/ESPN3.com screenshot

* * *
Arizona and UCLA combined for 29 runs in three regular-season meetings … and they’re off to a scoring start at the Women’s College World Series.

In the bottom of the first, the Bruins’ Megan Langenfeld — the Pac-10 Player of the Year — pulls an inside pitch over the fence in right field to tie the game at 1.

* * *
A bad break for Arizona right from the start as Brittany Lastrapes bloops a hit down the left-field line and tries to stretch it into a double. Replays indicate she was safe at second in the close play, but she was called out.

But no panic from the Cats. K’Lee Arredondo and Stacie Chambers walk with two outs, and Brigette Del Ponte bloops a hit into left field, scoring Arredondo for a 1-0 lead. UA leaves two runners in scoring position.

It was only one half-inning, but Arizona seemed to be seeing the ball well from UCLA pitcher Megan Langenfeld and taking some good cuts.

Now, let’s see what Kenzie Fowler can do.

* * *
NOTE: Arizona athletic director Greg Bryne, on the job about five weeks, is looking for his first national title. He traveled to Oklahoma City on Monday morning for his first trip to the Women’s College World Series … actually, his first trip to Oklahoma City, he told us.

Arizona celebrates beating Tennessee on Sunday night at the Women's College World Series.
Photo courtesy of the Fowler family

Almost three years ago to the day, Kenzie Fowler woke up at University Medical Center after seven hours of surgery to remove life-threatening blood clots from her pitching arm.

Her first words: “What’s the score?”

She was a 16-year-old pitcher from Canyon del Oro High School, committed to the University of Arizona, and what she really wanted to know was how the Wildcats were doing against Tennessee in the championship series at the Women’s College Series.

What happened in those next few days are part of Arizona lore. Taryne Mowatt, pushed to the brink of exhaustion with 1,035 pitches in seven days, led the Wildcats to their seventh national championship as UA won the final two games of the series against All-American ace Monica Abbott.

Three years later, Fowler is attempting to pull off a similar Mowatt-ian feat.

Fowler, a freshman, won four elimination games over the weekend — including two against Tennessee on Sunday — to guide the Wildcats into the best-of-three championship series that begins Monday night against UCLA.

After the celebration Sunday night, past midnight at the hotel in Oklahoma City, Kenzie’s mother, Kelly, was reminded about her daughter’s first post-surgery words when former Tucson Citizen prep editor Geoff Grammer sent her a link to his old story.

“You know, we were tired and getting me at 1:30 in the morning … I can get pretty emotional,” Kelly said in a phone interview Monday morning. “I started crying in bed. It’s been almost exactly three years. That’s crazy.”

Related links from the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network:
Memory lane: A look back at Arizona-UCLA in the College World Series
Kenzie Fowler joins Ron Hassey and Sean Elliott in an exclusive club

As a parent, Kelly — the former softball coach at CDO — and her husband, Lance, have gone through the entire emotional rainbow since the World Series started.

“We started out with excitement,” Kelly said, “and went straight to frustration, then crazy mad, then right back to ‘Oh my gosh, maybe we have a chance’ and then to ‘We’re getting this done’ … and then ‘Yee-haw!’”

Kenzie’s whole softball life had been leading up to the Women’s College World Series, with her wearing an Arizona uniform, but the whole experience began to unravel when she was called for an illegal pitch on her first throw in a first-round game against Tennessee.

Umpires called eight illegal pitches against her as the Vols pounded Arizona 9-0 in five innings. Umpires called the illegal pitches because she was “leaping” off the pitching rubber, with both feet in the air at the same time.

“Thursday night, she was very upset,” Kelly said. “She was more than frustrated. She hadn’t been called for what they were calling her for … ever. Ever.”

Fowler

Kelly explained that any illegal pitches called during the regular season were because Kenzie’s back foot lost contact with the pitching rubber during her windup.

So after her daughter was distraught Thursday night, Kelly said she saw a different emotion Friday during the Wildcats’ day off.

“Once she hit rock bottom, she just got mad,” Kelly said.

“She just said, ‘You know what, I have something to prove.’ I know she didn’t want to leave Oklahoma City with that feeling. Friday morning, she was mad. We had no idea how she would react.

“The whole thing was horrific. I don’t know any other word. From an athlete’s standpoint, it was horrific. For her to rise above it and be able to truly just put it in the trash can and move forward … Lance and I and (Kenzie’s sister) Mattie are extremely proud of her heart and her sheer desire to win no matter who is in her way.

“She felt like, ‘Gosh, I need to do my job to give us a chance.’”

Fowler’s pitching gave the Wildcats a chance, and UA’s hitting came around over the weekend.

In the four weekend games, Fowler pitched 25 innings with an ERA of 1.12. She allowed 15 hits, striking out 32 and allowing 14 walks.

It’s funny how Arizona and its fans were concerned before the World Series about Kenzie’s bruised forearm, which became an afterthought as the focus became her feet.

Through it all, how will Fowler hold up physically for at least two more games against the powerful Bruins?

“She is going on nothing but pure adrenaline and passion. I think she will be fine,” Kelly said. “I kind of hate to see it end. This is how I envisioned it. Yesterday was fun. Now, this is fun.”

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.

Mike Candrea and the Wildcats are one victory away from meeting UCLA in the championship series/ESPN3.com screenshot.

Arizona is one victory away from the championship series of the Women’s College World Series, beating Tennessee 8-0 in five innings Sunday in the best possible fashion.

Not only did the Wildcats’ grab momentum, their middle-of-the-order batters started hitting … and pitching ace Kenzie Fowler only had to pitch four innings, guarding against fatigue. And, oh yeah, she wasn’t called for any illegal pitches.

Arizona’s victory means the teams play again Sunday (4 p.m. Tucson time). The winner plays UCLA on the best-of-three championship series that begins Monday night.

The Vols had defeated Arizona 9-0 in five innings in a first-round game, when Fowler was called for eight illegal pitches. The UA has rebounded to win three games in the losers’ bracket.

This time, Fowler didn’t allow any hits in four innings, but she had to work out of trouble in the bottom of the second inning.

She walked the first two batters before getting a force out at third base. Another walk loaded the bases. Then, Tennessee’s Nicole Kajitani hit a pop-up near home plate. The home-plate umpire called the infield fly rule, which means the batter is out and runners can advance at their own risk.

When first baseman Baillie Kirker bobbled the ball trying to make a running catch, the runner on second, Lauren Gibson, tried to advance to third amid the confusion and was eventually tagged out to end the threat.

The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Karissa Buchanan and Brittany Lastrapes opened the inning with singles, and Arizona eventually loaded the bases with two outs. Tennessee pitcher Ivy Renfroe hit Brigette Del Ponte with an 0-2 pitch to bring in the first run.

Lini Koria followed with an RBI single, chasing Renfroe from the game. With the bases still loaded, relief pitcher Cat Hosfield walked Kristen Arriola on four pitches to make it 3-0.

Arizona scored five runs in the fifth, helped by three walks, one intentional. Buchanan had a big hit with two outs and the bases loaded, lashing an opposite-field single to left to drive in two runs. Lastrapes singled to right to drive in two more runs before the Vols intentionally walked K’Lee Arredondo to load the bases.

Stacie Chambers scratched out an infield hit to shortstop to make it 8-0, which was huge, considering it set up the mercy-rule victory.

Senior pitcher Sarah Akamine entered in relief of Fowler in the bottom of the fifth. Although she allowed two hits — breaking up the combined no-hitter — she didn’t allow any runs to shut the door on the Vols.

Arizona outfielder Brittany Lastrapes had three hits as the Wildcats beat Hawaii in an elimination game Saturday night at the Women's College World Series/ESPN3.com screenshot

Can’t imagine there would be anything that could faze Arizona pitcher Kenzie Fowler. It’s as if she has turned the whole controversy at the Women’s College World Series upside down.

The more illegal pitches the umpires call, the better I pitch.

The Wildcats are marching on in Oklahoma City, winning two games Saturday in the losers’ bracket despite 12 more illegal pitches being called against Fowler, who couldn’t completely curtail her “leaping” issue from the pitching rubber. It’s against the rules for the pitcher to have both feet off the ground, resulting in a ball being called and allowing any runners to advance a base.

Whatever.

Fowler was the winning pitcher as Arizona hung on to eliminate Washington 4-3 Saturday afternoon, ending the career of the Huskies’ Danielle Lawrie, the two-time national player of the year. Saturday night, UA defeated Hawaii 5-1 as Fowler struck out 13. She recorded nine of the last 10 outs via strikeout.

It’s as if coach Mike Candrea said last week at the Super Regionals in Tucson. “She’s stable,” he said.

When Fowler was called for eight illegal pitches in an opening-round loss to Tennessee, she was understandably frustrated and thrown off rhythm, as umpires emphatically enforced a rule that had become less-emphasized as the regular-season wore on.

But you might as well have called her “Poker Face” in Saturday’s victories, even as those illegal pitches piled up and nearly led to a Washington comeback victory.

“She threw not like a freshman, but like a seasoned veteran,” Candrea said in the postgame press conference.

But it wasn’t all Fowler on Saturday. Candrea had wanted his Wildcats, who bowed out meekly from the World Series in two games last season, to show some fight. A lot of fight, actually.

They found their fight, and their hitting stroke, Saturday. Well, at least the Wildcats’ speedy left-handers found their hitting stroke.

As UA’s middle-of-the-order sluggers continue to struggle, Brittany Lastrapes, Lauren Schutzler, K’Lee Arredondo and Karissa Buchanan accounted for all 13 of Arizona’s hits on Saturday. Lastrapes got things started against Hawaii with a bunt hit to lead off the bottom of the first, and she came around to score on a sacrifice, an infield hit and a throwing error.

There used to be a cheer Arizona would sing from the dugout:

You get the first runner on
You bunt her over
You get a hit
You score
You win
That’s all.

That was a pretty good formula in the first inning against Hawaii, although Arizona still had more work to do after taking a 1-0 lead. Hawaii tied the game in the top of third on a home run, but the Wildcats responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning … and Fowler did the rest.

At Arizona, pitchers make or break reputations at the World Series. Fowler is well on the way to making hers.

She faces the daunting task of facing Tennessee against Sunday, with the Wildcats needing to beat the Vols — who are 2-0 at the Series — twice to advance to the best-of-three championship series. The first game Sunday begins at 12:30 p.m. Tucson time on ESPN.

Fowler

Pressure for Fowler?

What pressure?

Three years ago, Fowler was facing life-threatening blood-clots in her pitching shoulder.

Three weeks ago, her postseason was in doubt because of a pinched nerve in her neck that caused her pitching hand to swell.

Last week, she had to leave the game when she was hit by a line drive, turning her pitching forearm black and blue.

And now there have been 20 illegal pitches called in three games.

Seems like she can overcome adversity just fine.

The more illegal pitches the umpires call, the better I pitch.

Kenzie Fowler walked eight in her first appearance at the Women's College World Series/ESPN3.com screenshot

And just about now … Kenzie Fowler has been called for another illegal pitch.

Out of all the games Arizona has played at the Women’s College World Series in 22 appearances — shoot, out of all the games Arizona has ever played — there has never been one that came close to Thursday’s first-round game against Tennessee.

Fowler was called for eight illegal pitches, which contributed to Fowler allowing eight walks and helping Tennessee score four runs in the third inning with only one hit. The Vols went on to win 9-0 in a five-inning mercy rule decision.

“It’s a hell of a way to start the College World Series and have something called there that hasn’t been called before,” Arizona coach Mike Candrea was quoted as saying by the Daily Oklahoman after the game.

“I’ve never seen an umpire’s judgment affect the outcome of a game, and tonight it did. It took the wind out of our sails.”

At issue was that Fowler’s back foot lost contact with the ground when pushing off the pitching rubber. It is illegal for pitchers to “leap” and have both feet in the air during the windup. When that happens, the pitch is called a ball if there are no runners on base. If there is a runner on base, she is allowed to advance to the next base, as in the case of a pitcher’s balk.

Fowler has been called for illegal pitches during the year — six when runners were on base — but the spate of calls Thursday was unprecedented and certainly unsettling for the freshman pitcher, and the entire team.

Since it’s safe to assume, Fowler didn’t suddenly change her pitching style, why all the calls now? It was an area of emphasis for the umpires this season, but it had never been monitored so stringently at any point.

“Obviously I need to fix it within 48 hours,” Fowler said in the postgame media interview.

“I thought I was pitching well but it’s hard to rebound from something that is so dramatic and something that can change the game.”

During an in-game interview on ESPN2, Candrea wondered how an illegal pitch could be called on one pitch and not the other, when the pitching motion essentially looked the same each time.

Fowler lasted three innings, allowing seven runs, four earned. She yielded three hits in addition to the eight walks. Her first pitch of the game was called illegal, setting the tone for the rest of her outing.

Candrea, in his postgame interview with media, said the umpires “didn’t know what they were doing.”

He added: “I don’t feel sorry for us, although I think in this arena, this young lady (Fowler) deserved a lot more than what she got tonight.”

Still, there was little excuse for another poor hitting effort from Arizona at the World Series. Since beating Tennessee for the 2007 national title, the Wildcats have lost five games in a row in Oklahoma City, scoring a total of one (unearned) run.

The Wildcats have been outscored 23-0 in the past two games. They have been outscored 32-1 in the past five games.

Arizona has won eight national titles, but none when it lost the first game of the Series and had to battle all the way back through the losers’ bracket.

The Wildcats are off Friday and will play Pac-10 rival Washington, which lost to Georgia 6-3 on Thursday night, in an elimination game Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Tucson time. This seems to be another bad break for Arizona, which went 0-3 against the Huskies this season (all the games were in Seattle).

Washington senior pitcher Danielle Lawrie — the two-time national player of the year — was the winner in all three games.

With a win over the Huskies, Arizona would need to win against later Saturday and then sweep two more games on Sunday to reach the best-of-three championship series.

Winning four games in two days doesn’t seem likely for the Wildcats.

But, then again, neither did having eight illegal pitches called against them.

“By no means is this team going to throw in the towel,” Candrea said.

Lastrapes

Arizona freshman pitcher Kenzie Fowler and junior outfielder Brittany Lastrapes have earned first-team All-American honors, as selected by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Junior catcher Stacie Chambers and senior shortstop K’Lee Arredondo were selected to the second team.

Fowler is the first Arizona freshman to earn All-America honors since outfielder Caitlin Lowe in 2004. Fowler is 34-6 with a 1.27 ERA. Lastrapes is hitting .403 with 16 home runs in 59 games. The Arizona athletics site has the team’s full stats.

The NFCA selected a total of 54 players on three All-America teams. Arizona’s four selections were the most of any team.

The NFCA has all three All-America teams on its website.