Mike Candrea’s team failed to get a timely hit vs. Baylor. 2011 photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com

The Arizona Wildcats softball team will have to try to win an NCAA regional the hard way.

Arizona dropped its opening game of a double-elimination regional Friday afternoon, falling 7-0 to Baylor, and will have to win four games in two days to advance to a Super Regional.

The Cats take on Penn at 2:30 p.m. Tucson time Saturday in an elimination game to be telecast by ESPN. The winner will face the loser an earlier game between Baylor and host Texas A&M. That game, scheduled for 5 p.m., will be shown on ESPNEWS.

A&M defeated Penn 12-0 on Friday.

Junior pitcher Shelby Babcock, who had been suffering from illness earlier in the week, got the start against Baylor, but failed to record an out, walking the first three batters and allowing four runs.

“Babs wanted the ball and we gave it to her, but she just couldn’t execute,” coach Mike Candrea said in the postgame press conference. “You have three walks and you’re down 4-0. That really changed the complexion of the game.”

Arizona missed a chance to answer in the top of the second inning. The Wildcats loaded the bases against Whitney Canion with one out, but two ground ball outs ended the threat without a run.

“When you have opportunities like that, especially against somebody like Whitney — because you know you’re not going to get many of them — that can really change the game if you can get a couple of base hits. You can get in her head a little bit,” Candrea said.

“But for them to get out of the inning it was really disheartening. We had one out and bases loaded and our next two hitters swung at the first pitch and didn’t show enough patience to maybe let her work herself into a jam.”

From there, Canion was dominant. The left-hander allowed six hits, striking out seven and walking none, in the shutout.

Arizona used all three of its pitchers, with Nancy Bowling pitching five innings of relief and Estela Pinion coming in for one inning, and will need a huge effort from the trio if the Cats are to survive the regional in College Station, Texas.

“You can’t think about four,” Candrea said of the potential path of games over the next two days.

“You’d better think about one. It’s kind of new territory for us. It’s like I told the girls, ‘How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time.’”

Shelby Babcock has struck out 130 batters in 169 1/3 innings this season. Photo by Andy Morales, TucsonCitizen.com

Arizona Wildcats softball coach Mike Candrea has been feeling as good about his team as he has all season … and then came the phone call at 1:30 Sunday morning.

His No. 1 pitcher, junior Shelby Babcock, was being taken to the hospital for an illness that the school wasn’t able to disclose early Monday afternoon. By that time, she had returned home and was resting.

It was not immediately known if Babcock would be available when Arizona begins play at an NCAA regional in College Station, Texas, on Friday. The Wildcats open the four-team, double-elimination event against Baylor at 12:30 p.m. Tucson time on ESPN2.

Arizona’s rotation could be down to freshman Nancy Bowling and junior college transfer Estela Pinion, neither of whom have pitched in the postseason.

“It can be a positive, too,” Candrea said. “Sometimes you can over-think the game when you’ve been there too many times.”

Arizona’s pitching hasn’t been a strength this season, with senior Kenzie Fowler taking a redshirt season while recovering from back surgery. The Wildcats’ ERA of 3.80 was the second-worst in the nine-team Pac-12 during the regular season, and they gave up a league-high 69 home runs.

Arizona doesn’t have an ace who can go out and pitch a seven-inning shutout. This is more of hang-in-there pitching staff that needs to keep the score close to give the bats a chance to win.

Candrea has had to mix-and-match his three-pitcher staff, commending Pinion for embracing her recent role as a reliever who gives the opponents a different look.

Babcock (16-10) has been the main pitcher, though, with a 3.68 ERA to go with her team-highs in appearances (34), starts (24) and innings (169 1/3).

Candrea said he might know Babcock’s status by Wednesday afternoon. She last pitched Thursday at Stanford, allowing two earned runs in 4 2/3 innings before Pinion picked up the win in relief as Arizona rallied for 5-3 victory.

Babcock was ill for the next two days of the road trip, but appeared to be feeling better, before the early-morning trip to the hospital.

Bowling (4-6, 4.25 ERA) would be the likely starter in Babcock’s absence.

“I think she’s gotten over the hump a little bit and has more confidence in herself,” Candrea said.

“It would be nice to have Babs healthy, because it does give us that additional depth that you need. But you have to go out and do what you need to do.”

Mike Candrea’s program has reached the NCAA Tournament every year since 1987. Photo by Andy Morales, TucsonCitizen.com

The Arizona Wildcats softball team, which finished with its best stretch in an otherwise difficult season, will begin its postseason run in College Station, Texas.

Arizona (32-24 overall, 9-15 Pac-12) will open the NCAA Tournament against Baylor at 12:30 p.m. Tucson time Friday on ESPN in a regional hosted by Texas A&M, the 16th overall seed in the tourney.

It’s time to reset all the numbers.

“Zero-zero,” UA coach Mike Candrea said of his message to his team.

“It’s a new season. A big factor is this team has played nice and loose and relaxed, and they’ve gained confidence they can come back. They don’t hit the panic button. If we can keep them in the same mindset, we’ve got a chance.”

The winner of Texas A&M regional advances to play the winner of the regional hosted by the tournament’s overall No. 1 team, Oklahoma. The Sooners have become a recent nemesis, eliminating Arizona in each of the past two tournaments.

But this hasn’t been the kind of Arizona season in which the Wildcats can look too far down the postseason path.

First up is Baylor, which finished the regular season at 39-15 and features standout left-handed pitcher Whitney Canion (23.7, 1.62 ERA). Texas A&M will open Friday against Penn following the Arizona-Baylor game. UA hasn’t faced any of the other three teams in the regional this season.

This is the first time Arizona hasn’t been the top seed in a regional since the NCAA went to a four-team, double-elimination format in 1994.

The Wildcats finished the season by winning two of three games against No. 3 Arizona State on their final homestand, and taking two of three at No. 13 Stanford this weekend to end the regular season.

“Right now, I feel pretty good,” Candrea said. “I feel we’re starting to put some pieces together and we’re playing the game with some confidence.”

This marks the third time in the past six seasons that Arizona won’t be a host for an NCAA regional.

Arizona advances to its 27 consecutive NCAA Tournament, a streak that dates to Candrea’s second season in charge of the program. He has directed UA to eight national championships, but the Cats have missed out on the College World Series in each of the past two seasons.

Former Arizona Wildcats shortstop Shelby Pendley will play for the Oklahoma Sooners.

That’s not a surprise. That was rumored to be her likely destination since surprisingly leaving UA in December after an All-Pac-12 season as a freshman. She has been in Norman for a couple of weeks, but the school didn’t officially announce her addition to the team until late last week.

“It just wasn’t the right fit,” she told Soonersports.com about transferring from Arizona. “And I decided I needed to do something different.”

Pendley joins a loaded Oklahoma team that lost to Alabama in the championship series of last season’s College World Series. Keilani Ricketts, whose pitching and hitting has helped the Sooners eliminate the Wildcats in each of the past two postseasons, is back for her senior season.

Oklahoma is No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA preseason poll, behind Alabama. Arizona starts at No. 13.

The Wildcats begin their season Feb. 8 at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe.

Kellie Fox

Former UCLA shortstop Kellie Fox has transferred to Arizona and will be eligible to play for the Wildcats in the 2014 season, coach Mike Candrea told TucsonCitizen.com on Thursday.

Fox, who started classes at Arizona on Wednesday, is the sister of former Arizona All-American shortstop Kristie Fox.

Candrea had put off questions about Fox until the resolution of Arizona’s petition to lower the penalty for transferring within the Pac-12. UA won that case Thursday morning.

By NCAA rules, softball players can transfer one time without penalty. According to Pac-12 rules, however, transfers within the league have to sit out a season while losing a year of eligibility and not being able to receive scholarship money from the athletic department for one year.

As is common, Arizona petitioned to reduce the transfer penalty to just sitting out the season. The conference’s faculty athletic representatives granted that request, taking into account that UCLA did not object to her transfer.

“We’re looking forward to having her in the program,” Candrea said. “She will have an impact.”

Fox will have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out this season. She figures to be the 2014 replacement at shortstop, following the transfer of sophomore Shelby Pendley in December. Senior third baseman Brigette Del Ponte likely will fill the shortstop role this season.

Fox earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors as a freshman, when she hit .342 with 11 home runs while starting all 55 games for UCLA, which has been Arizona’s chief rival for more than two decades.

She slumped as a sophomore last season, hitting .251 with four home runs and starting all 56 games.

Fox, coming off elbow surgery, can practice with the Wildcats this season.

“She’s started to throw a little bit,” Candrea said. “We’re going to do what we need to do with the rehab part, but she will be able to take ground balls and swing the ball a little bit. It will be nice to have her out there.”

The Wildcats, who began practice earlier this week, open the season at Kajikawa Classic in Tempe on Feb. 8.

Kristie Fox, who is beginning her first season as the head coach at UT-Arlington, was a first-team All-American at Arizona in 2005 and 2006. She helped the Wildcats win the Women’s College World Series in 2006 and 2007.

Shelby Pendley rounds the bases after hitting her 19th home run of last season, in NCAA regional play vs. Notre Dame. Photo by Andy Morales, TucsonCitizen.com

Arizona shortstop Shelby Pendley, who earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors last season as a freshman, has left the team, coach Mike Candrea said Thursday.

“It was kind of a surprise,” Candrea said. “For personal reasons, she decided to leave the team. It is what it is.”

Candrea added that he did not know where Pendley will continue her career.

She hit .331 with 19 home runs last season — two off the school freshman record — and had 55 RBIs while starting all 57 games at shortstop. She did all that while coming back from a torn ACL in the summer and battling a lower back injury late in the season.

At one point late last season, Candrea said the left-handed hitting Pendley, from Rio Rancho, N.M., could be about as good as he’s ever had at shortstop.

Her unexpected departure, combined with the graduation of Lini Koria (.316, 16 home runs), leaves Arizona short on proven power hitters.

Senior third baseman Brigette Del Ponte (.328, 15 home runs, team-high 56 RBIs) will anchor the middle of the lineup. Candrea said his early plan defensively starts with moving Del Ponte to shortstop and putting freshman Lauren Young at third base. Young could also end up at shortstop.

“We have some options,” Candrea said.

The Wildcats open practice Jan. 7 and will begin the season Feb. 8 at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe.

One of the big questions for this team will be the health and effectiveness of senior pitcher Kenzie Fowler, who underwent back surgery — a microscopic lumbar discectomy for a herniated disc — in early October.

“She’s starting to toss a little bit,” said Candrea. “She’s pain-free but she hasn’t thrown a lot yet.”

It might not be until March before she is able to pitch in a game, although that is still very much in flux.

“It’s hard to say and I don’t want to put a time limit on it,” Candrea said. “We’re not going to push her, but she’s rehabbing really well.”

Kenzie Fowler finished last season with a 15-9 record. Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com

Arizona Wildcats senior pitcher Kenzie Fowler will undergo back surgery on Oct. 4 but is expected to be recover in time for the 2013 season, UA announced Friday.

Fowler, who has had a myriad of health problems through her career, has been bothered by back pain, as well as leg and foot numbness for the past nine months, which includes the 2012 season. She will undergo a microscopic lumbar discectomy for a herniated disc.

Fowler was a first-team All-American as a freshman in 2010, helping the Wildcats advance to the championship round of the Women’s College World Series. She was a second-team All-American in 2011 but struggled last season while dealing with the back problems.

Fowler was 15-9 last season with a 2.85 ERA. She is 79-27 in her career, with a 1.95 ERA and 794 strikeouts in 652 2/3 innings.

The Wildcats have more options in the circle this season, starting with junior Shelby Babcock, who was 21-10 with a 3.02 ERA in 2012. Arizona also welcomes highly touted freshman Nancy Bowling and Estela Pinon, from Yavapai Junior College and Sunnyside High School.

Arizona will begin its fall schedule Oct. 7 with a home doubleheader against Yavapai and Eastern Arizona College, beginning at 3 p.m. at Hillenbrand Stadium.

Mike Candrea appreciates how Andy Lopez revamped the culture of the baseball program. Photo by Anthony Gimino, TucsonCitizen.com

Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea, an ardent baseball fan who knows a few things about winning national championships, appreciated how the Wildcats went about winning the Men’s College World Series.

“Business-like,” Candrea said earlier this week at the on-campus celebration of the UA baseball team’s national title.

“You could kind of see it when they were in regionals, and then in Super Regionals; things were kind of rolling. It was just fun to watch because I never saw any panic. Just very business-like, under control, having fun. All the things that you want to see were there.

“They made it look easy.”

The championship marked the first for Arizona baseball since 1986, which was Candrea’s first season leading the softball team. He has gone on to win eight national championships, as the softball program eclipsed baseball in terms of fan support.

Although Candrea and baseball coach Andy Lopez share similar philosophies and religious faith — with off-the-chart people skills — their concurrent seasons mean that their interactions over the years has been “very little,” Candrea said.

“I wish we had more,” Candrea said.

“I told him, I want to sit down with you for a little bit and just talk. Because, obviously, he changed the culture of this team in a very, very big way the past couple of years, and it was very obvious that they were not only great athletes but great people. You can see it.”

One of Lopez’s low moments at Arizona was in 2009, when he had, as he calls it, a team of “knuckleheads.” That Arizona team was one of only two that has missed the postseason in the past 10 years.

The freshman class Lopez brought in after that turned into the juniors who formed the core of the title team.

It’s no secret that Candrea has been struggling with the culture of his program in the past couple of years, trying to re-find the right combination of players and passion that was common for most of the previous two decades.

“The only thing I’m sad about is I wish every one of our players was sitting here, watching this,” Candrea said of Tuesday’s celebration at McKale Center, when almost 5,100 fans turned out to cheer on the baseball team.

Candrea said that the majority of his team was out of town; he saw only outfielder Chelsea Suitos in the crowd.

NOTE
Candrea said he will make an announcement Friday about his coaching staff. Longtime assistant Larry Ray, who was on a leave at the end of last season, resigned last week. Candrea replaced him on the coaching staff late in the season with former Wildcats ace Alicia Hollowell, who had been serving as director of operations. Considering that UA did not post a job opening for an assistant softball coach, it is expected that Hollowell will be announced as a full-time member of the coaching staff.

Larry Ray

Longtime Arizona Wildcats assistant softball coach Larry Ray, who arrived with head coach Mike Candrea before the 1986 season, has resigned, according to a news release from UA on Tuesday.

Ray spent a total of 21 seasons at Arizona, serving as interim head coach in 2004 and 2008 when Candrea was coaching the U.S. Olympic team.

Ray, 61, served as a UA assistant from 1986 to 1995 before becoming the first head coach at Florida. He returned to the Wildcats in 2002.

“I’m proud of my contributions to the University of Arizona softball program for 21 years, and all the experiences and challenges have prepared me well for my next coaching endeavor,” Ray said in a statement.

“I’d like to thank (former UA athletics directors) Cedric Dempsey and the late Mary Roby, and Coach Mike Candrea for allowing me the opportunity to be part of this wonderful program.”

Ray was not with the team for the final three weekends of the 2012 season following his arrest on domestic violence charges. His absence allowed Candrea to move former Arizona All-American Alicia Hollowell from director of operations to an on-field role as pitching coach.

“Larry Ray has given our softball program and the University of Arizona many great years of service and commitment,” Candrea said in a statement. “I am grateful for his tremendous contributions, dedication and loyalty to our softball program. I wish Larry the best in the future.”

The Candrea-Ray partnership started in 1985, when Ray, who was a high school coach in Boulder City, Nev., at the time was visiting Casa Grande, where Candrea was the head coach at Central Arizona College.

Ray called up Candrea to talk about moving up the college-coaching level. They met and had arranged for Ray to join the staff at Central … and then Candrea got the Arizona job and brought Ray along to Tucson.

Kristie Fox drove in 230 runs at Arizona, eighth on the school's career list. Tucson Citizen photo.

Former Arizona shortstop Kristie Fox, whose spitfire attitude and middle-of-the-order bat helped the Wildcats win two national titles, was announced Sunday as the head coach at UT Arlington.

Fox, who played at Arizona from 2004 to 2007, is only 26.

“I truly believe Kristie has the ability and the background to become one of the top head coaches in the country,” UT Arlington athletic director Jim Baker said in a statement.

“Her youthful energy and knowledge of the game, plus her history of success as both an assistant coach and an accomplished player, made her the perfect fit as we begin an exciting new softball era at UT Arlington.”

At Arizona, Fox earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors three times and was twice a first-team All-American.

After helping the Cats win the Women’s College World Series in 2006 and 2007, she served as a UA volunteer undergraduate assistant for a year. She then worked at Murray State for a year before becoming an assistant at Texas Tech, where she has spent the past three seasons.

She helped the Red Raiders hit a program-best .341 last season, when they ranked fourth nationally in batting average and led the Big 12 in runs per game (7.17).