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.

Taryne Mowatt in Arizona's 2007 championship season/Tucson Citizen photo

Taryne Mowatt can’t help but get a little nostalgic. Arizona will play Tennessee in the Women’s College World Series on Thursday, the same matchup that led to her greatest glory.

While the teams will meet in Oklahoma City, Mowatt will be watching from Akron, Ohio, where she is preparing for Wednesday’s season-opener with the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch League.

Flashback to 2007, when Mowatt turned in one of the greatest performances ever at the College World Series, one of the most remarkable efforts in Arizona history. She threw 60 innings — 1,035 pitches — over a seven-game span, leading the Wildcats to the national championship over the favored Volunteers, who featured NCAA strikeout queen Monica Abbott.

That propelled her to two ESPY Awards, including one for best female athlete.

“2007 was obviously a great year for myself personally, but it was a great year for Arizona softball in the sense that when we won, it was a total team effort,” Mowatt said Wednesday. “I don’t think we could have scripted a better ending to that year. We had each other’s back that whole time.

“That year showed the Arizona fans what an Arizona team can be made of, how we can come together as one. Everybody had a big role at some point. I think it kind of intrigued Arizona fans that this is really cool.”

Tennessee beat Arizona in the second round of the 2007 Series, but the Wildcats battled back through the losers’ bracket to reach the best-of-three championship series. The Vols won Game 1, 1-0.

Then, Mowatt, using her change-up to great effect, helped lead Arizona to a 1-0 victory in 10 innings … and, finally, a 5-0 win in the final game.

Lauren Schutzler, now a junior center fielder for the Wildcats, was a very interested observer that week. She had signed with Arizona, and her sister, Lindsey, was a senior star for the Vols.

Asked this week about what she remembered most about the Series, she said, “The Taryne Mowatt change-up. It was kind of killer for the Tennessee fans, sitting over there watching it.”

It was killer for the Tennessee batters, too. And Mowatt found out later exactly why.

Lindsey Schutzler told Mowatt later that the Tennessee batters were simply not looking to swing at the change-up until there was a two-strike count.

“I don’t think I could have been paired up with a better team for that pitch, although I didn’t know it at the time,” Mowatt said.

“Talking to Lindsey later, their philosophy was to not look for the change until two strikes. In the SEC, they didn’t throw a lot of change-ups. It was a power conference. Power pitching. Power hitting.

“Lucky for me, the change was working. I would throw it in any count, and I could throw it at any time for strikes.”

That championship game victory was the last time Arizona won a game at the College World Series. The Wildcats have been swept in each of the past two years.

Mowatt and her former UA teammates will be closely watching. During regional and super regional action, they exchanged messages and updates via Twitter.

“We’re always getting together somewhere,” Mowatt said, “and we find a way to talk and cheer on our team.”

All seems right with Arizona softball again. The Wildcats have advanced to an NCAA Super Regional, which will played at home Friday and Saturday against BYU.

Arizona was pushed to 12 innings by Hofstra on Sunday, but the Cats rallied twice in extra innings. Matte Haack‘s pinch-hit home run tied the game at 4 in the bottom of the ninth, but Hofstra forged ahead with two runs in the top of the 12th.

Karissa Buchanan and Lauren Schutzler singled to put the tying runs on base, and then K’Lee Arredondo delivered a one-out, two-run triple into the right-center field gap. Hofstra intentionally walked the next two batters to set up a force at any base, but that didn’t matter when Lini Koria smashed a grand slam to win the game 10-6.

Arizona went 3-0 in the Tucson Regional. If Hofstra would have won, the teams would have played again in a winner-take-all game. That could have been dicey for the Cats, considering ace Kenzie Fowler had pitched 11 1/3 innings before Sarah Akamine finished up with two outs to get the win.

“That was probably the best performance I have seen as far as grit, fight and the never-give-up from the people out there,” UA coach Mike Candrea said in his post-game news conference.

“For K’Lee to come up as a senior and embrace the moment and come through in the clutch was huge. And with Lini, I told her, ‘Let’s do one for (Lini’s late mother)’ and boom. It was remarkable.

“It was one of the greatest wins. For the time, for what the game meant and for the situation we were in, it was one of the biggest games since I’ve been here.”

Arizona will play BYU in the best-of-three Super Regional, with the winner advancing to the Women’s College World Series. The Wildcats will be looking to advance to their 22nd World Series in the past 23 seasons.

To get there, they will have to conquer a good-hitting Cougars team that features a couple of premier senior sluggers.

Third baseman Angeline Quiocho, the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, has 27 home runs and entered last week as the nation’s leader in homers (0.5 per game). First baseman Andrea Ramirez has 19 home runs and was 10th in the country at 0.35 per game.

The bracket has worked in Arizona’s favor so far. BYU upset seventh-seeded host Texas in regional play. If Texas had won, the Wildcats — seeded 10th in the tournament — would have had to travel to Austin for the Super Regional.

Now, there is more softball at Hillenbrand … always a good thing for the Cats.

Akamine

The Arizona softball team began the season Friday afternoon with a no-hitter in a 13-0 five-inning victory over Western Michigan at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe.

Senior Sarah Akamine, coming off offseason back surgery, threw the first no-hitter of her career, striking out three and walking one.

Coach Mike Candrea sent out touted freshman Kenzie Fowler to make her much-anticipated debut in Arizona’s second game of the day, against Purdue, which lost to the Wildcats in last season’s NCAA regionals.

Fowler came through with a one-hitter, striking out eight and walking two, in a 10-0 five-inning victory. Brittany Lastrapes, Stacie Chambers and freshman first baseman Baillie Kirker hit home runs against Purdue.

In the first game, Arizona scored 13 runs on only seven hits as two Western Michigan pitchers combined to walk 14 batters. UA junior centerfielder Lauren Schutzler went 2-for-2 with three RBIs. Shortstop K’Lee Arredondo was the other Wildcat with multiple hits, as she went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

The Wildcats scored seven runs in the first and six in the fourth.

Random thoughts (and notes) while wondering if Arizona football coach Mike Stoops sent a congratulatory message to Super Bowl-winning coach Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints. Their connection: They were teammates on the replacement Chicago Bears during the 1987 NFL players’ strike …

Say this, the Arizona basketball team is good at one thing: Giving up career highs.

It started with the season opener, when NAU guard Cameron Jones went for 29 points.

Later in the non-conference season, there was the epic 49 points from BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. And the 34 points allowed to Lipscomb’s superb post player Adnan Hodzic.

More recently, Oregon’s LeKendric Longmire came off the bench to tie his career-best with 18 points. On Jan. 31, Theo Robertson poured in 27 points, his personal best. And, on Feb. 6, Washington State big man DeAngelo Casto had a career-high 19 points to go along with plenty of other mayhem in the paint.

In between those two games, Washington’s Quincy Pondexter lit up the Wildcats for 30 points, one off his career high. In any case, he used that to help grab Pac-10 Player of the Week honors.

Basically, if the other team has an elite scorer, Arizona usually can’t stop him, from Wisconsin’s Trevon Hughes (24 points), to Colorado’s Cory Higgins (28), to UNLV’s Tre’Von Willis (25), to Oklahoma’s Willie Warren (25), to Louisiana Tech’s Kyle Gibson (25) to Stanford’s Landry Fields (31), to all the guys mentioned above. …

Mike Bell

Mike Bell became the ninth former UA player to earn a Super Bowl ring. The New Orleans Saints running back only had two carries against the Colts, slipping on an off-tackle third-and-goal attempt from the 1, but he was a key part in the championship season. Bell actually had the most rushing attempts (172) on the team during the regular season.

As for the other Super Bowl-winning Cats:

*Tedy Bruschi has three rings (Patriots — 2002, 2004, 2005 Super Bowls)
*T Bell has two (Steelers — 1979, 1980)
*The following have one — Ron Gardin (Colts, 1971), Edwin Mulitalo (Ravens, 2001), Chris McAlister (Ravens, 2001), Josh Miller (Patriots, 2005), Michael Johnson (Giants, 2008) and Antonio Pierce (Giants, 2008).

For the complete list of ex-Cats in the Super Bowl, go to our sports network partner WildAboutAZCats.com. …

Scout.com released its initial list of top 150 football recruits for next season. How in the world did CDO running back Ka’Deem Carey not make the list? … Reason No. 5,871 to not get put too much stock into recruiting rankings: There was a lot of buzz when running back Ryan Bass — the 31st-best player in the nation, according to Scout.com — committed to Arizona a couple of years ago, and much angst when he then signed with Arizona State. He spent two unspectacular years with the Sun Devils, was suspended at the end of last season and has now transferred to Idaho. …

Jamelle Horne

UA junior forward Jamelle Horne is nothing if not consistently inconsistent, but how in the world has he scored single-digit points in six of the past seven games? Is he injured in some way that has not become public? He began Pac-10 play by averaging 16 points through four games. In the seven games since then, he is averaging 6.3. Something is not right … Four of the 23 football players in Arizona’s recruiting class have spent time on a Division I roster. They are defensive lineman Willie Mobley (redshirted at Ohio State in 2008), defensive end Mohammad Usman (had 10 tackles in nine game with Houston in 2008), linebacker Paul Vassallo (redshirted at Nevada in 2007) and, of course, Texas transfer receiver Dan Buckner. …

Among the football newcomers, long snapper Chase Gorham from Scottsdale is the one most guaranteed of playing time in 2010. The Wildcats lose two seniors on the long-snapping depth chart, and Gorham is supposed to one of the best around. He is the son of Charlie Gorham, a UA kicker in 1972 and 1973. “I know how much I really, really, really love the Cats,” Charlie said in a video interview with Wildcat Sports Report, part of the TucsonCitizen.com sports network. “The minute he steps foot on the football field at the U of A, I am going to be bawling.” …

The father of Arizona basketball commit Jordin Mayes, a point guard from Los Angeles Westchester High School, offered this honest assessment of his son to WildAboutAZCats.com: “Jordin has to learn more about managing the game and getting better at that,” Darryel Mayes said. “He has the skills to score big points when he needs to. As a point guard, he has to get others involved. But as he matures, he will understand more that he must keep the defense on its heels. Sean (Miller) and his staff can see the ability of Jordin scoring when the opportunity presents itself. When the play calls for a bucket, get that bucket. Don’t pass up that shot. That’s called playing too nice.”…

The Arizona softball team begins its season Friday at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe. Mike Candrea‘s team has its home opener on Feb. 20 with a doubleheader against Missouri. One of the changes at Hillenbrand Stadium is a padded outfield fence, replacing the wooden face that has been a hazard to outfielder’s faces. “I’m really looking forward it,” said junior centerfielder Lauren Schutzler. “I was joking with my family that Coach put that up because he’s getting sick of me not catching the ball. That wood wall was kind of a big omen out there. Any time you would run into that wall, you would get splinters, you would bang your head. It was horrible.” The padding comes a few years too late for Caitlin Lowe, who became a YouTube sensation when she crashed into the fence during postseason play in 2007. The outfielders will now have a little security when going hard after fly balls. “But it’s going to be another thing that raises expectations,” Schutzler said. “Coach is going to be like, ‘I put that padding out there for you, you better be going into it.’”