Sarah Akamine and coach Mike Candrea discuss the 10-2 victory over BYU in a postgame news conference.
TucsonCitizen.com photo

Be ready. Sounds so simple. Just be ready. That’s what all backup players have to be. That’s what Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea has been telling senior pitcher Sarah Akamine lately. Be ready.

Because you never know what’s going to happen.

“I ask her every day, ‘Are you ready, Sarah?’” Candrea said Saturday after a 10-2 victory over BYU gave the Wildcats a berth in the Women’s College World Series.

“She says, ‘I’m ready. I’m ready for anything.’ Today she showed me that.”

On Saturday afternoon, Akamine had little reason to be mentally ready in the bottom of the first inning against BYU in the second game of an NCAA Super Regional. But things changed in a flash.

Starting pitcher Kenzie Fowler took a batted ball off her right forearm, and, as a fearful crowd of 2,896 at Hillenbrand Stadium barely dared to breathe, the ever-ready Akamine popped out of the dugout and quickly got warmed-up in the bullpen.

“Sarah walked in, kept her composure and did a great job and gave us an opportunity to win that game,” Candrea said.

Now, it should be noted — because it was by Candrea and Akamine — that she hasn’t always been ready.

Also from TucsonCitizen.com:
Candrea: Fowler appears to be ‘fine’ after being by batted ball
UA-BYU game blog

Akamine, earlier in her career, was something of a reluctant pitcher. She was a second baseman who just happened to make 21 pitching appearances in her first two seasons. But with Arizona having a pressing need, she converted to full-time pitching before her junior year.

And she has, on occasion, been wide-eyed, lacking the steely nerves and the singular focus so common in a pitching star.

“Getting her mindset where it needed to be to walk into a tough situation … two years ago, that would have never happened to her,” Candrea said.

But now she’s a senior, and, well, sometimes a senior just gets it.

When he turned the ball over to Akamine in the bottom of the first, Candrea said he liked the look in Akamine’s eyes. She was ready.

Candrea’s final message to her: “Have fun.”

That she did. Getting outs is fun.

She inherited runners on first and second with no outs, allowing a run on a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch that tied the game at 1.

From there, the Arizona batters took control with four runs in the third, and five an inning later. Akamine, using her drop ball effectively, retired 12 of the first 13 batters she faced.

BYU broke through for a run in the bottom of the fifth, but Akamine limited the damage as the Cats were able to end the game after the fifth inning because of the eight-run mercy rule.

“It’s taken me this long to get ready and get prepared,” Akamine said. “I stepped up, and the team stepped up behind me. Yeah, it was a great feeling.”

It probably hasn’t been easy for Akamine this season. Most of the discussion has been about Fowler, the freshman sensation. With the way Candrea coaches, he was prepared to exclusively use Fowler throughout the rest of the postseason.

So, Akamine could only wait, practice … and be ready.

She entered the game with a 3.48 ERA and had started only one of the previous 22 games, although she has been used as a late-inning reliever. That she was able to hold the line as an early-inning reliever Saturday made her a postseason hero.

In the postgame news conference, as Akamine settled into her chair to Candrea’s right, she apologized to the coach for the tight fit.

“That’s OK,” Candrea told her. “You’re on the good list.”

And on the ready-to-play list.

The Arizona softball team, seeded 10th in the 64-team postseason tournament, will play host to an NCAA regional this weekend.

Mike Candrea‘s Wildcats will open Friday against Cornell at Hillenbrand Stadium. The other teams in the regional, which will be held through Sunday, are Oklahoma State and Hofstra.

Oklahoma State and Hofstra will play at 4 p.m. Friday. The Arizona-Cornell game is set for 6 p.m., starting about 30 minutes after the completion of the first game. The Arizona athletics site has the full schedule.

The big questions for Arizona are the availability of star freshman pitcher Kenzie Fowler (who left Friday’s game against UCLA because of swelling in her hand) and the status of No. 2 pitcher Sarah Akamine (who left Saturday’s game because of a knee injury).

Senior Ashley Ralston-Alvarez, from Catalina Foothills High and Pima Community College, finished Saturday’s game against UCLA. She has thrown only 9 2/3 innings this season.

Oklahoma State is the main competition in the Tucson regional. OSU (43-14) was ranked 16th in the most recent ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. Cowgirls’ freshman pitcher Kat Espinosa, who threw a no-hitter against Texas in late April, was selected first-team All-Big 12.

The winner of the Tucson regional will play the winner of the regional in Austin, Texas. The Texas Longhorns are the top seed in that regional, No. 7 overall. That means that the Wildcats would be looking at a trip to Austin for the Super Regional, should the favorites advance.

Arizona had been sent on the road in the past two seasons in regional play.

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.

Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea has a theme for his fall camp: Character counts.

“I really felt we have been lacking a really strong team chemistry in which the athletes enjoyed being around one another,” he said. “There was just way too much selfishness that has been plaguing us for a while.”

Mike Candrea wants to use last season's College World Series as motivation/2009 Tucson Citizen photo

He’ll be repeating that phrase and working on the mindset — and all the usual fundamental stuff that comes with fall camp — while not wanting to forget what happened last spring.

Arizona was last seen losing 14-0 to Alabama at the Women’s College World Series in May — the worst loss in the history of the program.

“We use it as a reminder,” Candrea said. “You can always use experiences as a motivator if you’re smart enough to learn from it. The kids who were here last year surely have that in the back of their minds.”

Arizona has four freshmen who will be seeing the field for the first time when the Cats begin their fall exhibition schedule Sunday against Yavapai College. Yavapai is coached Stacy Iveson, who was a catcher and assistant coach at Arizona, and the head coach at Pima Community College.

The star of UA’s freshman class is pitcher Kenzie Fowler, a two-time Gatorade softball national player of the year at Canyon del Oro High School. Candrea is hoping to keep the hype under control.

“You just don’t want expectations that are unrealistic,” he said.

“She needs to grow and get better. We have a great tradition to fall back on, talking about the great players we have had here and the trials and tribulations they had to go through.”

Fowler and Ashley Ralston-Alvarez, a walk-on from Pima, are expected to pitch this fall. UA’s other pitcher, senior Sarah Akamine, is recovering from back surgery and is expected to be good to go when the real season begins in February, Candrea said.

Other newcomers are infielder Baillie Kirker (the career high school home run leader in California), outfielder Becca Tikey and infielder Matte Haack. As first reported on wildaboutazcats.com, freshman recruit Brigette DelPonte, an infielder rated the fourth-best recruit in the nation by ESPNU, will try to enroll for the spring after running into admission problems.

FALL SCHEDULE

Sunday — vs. Yavapai, 2 p.m.
Oct. 9 — vs. Arizona Western, 4 p.m.
Oct. 10 — vs. New Mexico, 5:30 p.m.; vs. Central Arizona, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 11 — vs. Cypress, 3 p.m.; vs. Pima, 5 p.m.
Oct. 28 — vs. Pima, 4 p.m.