A look back at 2019
Arizona finished the 2019 season with a 48-14 overall record, posting a 19-5 mark in PAC-12 play. The Wildcats posted a solid non-conference record, with victories over Michigan, Oklahoma State, Minnesota, and James Madison and losses to Florida, South Florida, Alabama, and Oklahoma. The Cats dropped a best-of-three series against Florida State early in the season, managing to salvage one game from the series.
The Wildcats started their conference season 16-0 before dropping the middle game of their series against Cal, a 9-inning, one-run affair. The Cats would go on to suffer a sweep at home at the hands of Washington, but rebounded to end the conference slate with a road series win over UCLA.
Selected as the #6 overall seed for the NCAA tournament, Arizona swept through the Regional and Super Regional rounds, posting a perfect 5-0 record, including four wins against SEC opponents. In so doing, the squad returned to Oklahoma City and the Women’s College World Series for the first time since 2010, breaking the longest World Series-less streak of Mike Candrea’s career. In OKC, the team beat Washington in extra innings to open the tournament, but dropped back-to-back games against UCLA and Alabama respectively to end the season.
Roster turnover
Departures: Pitching ace Taylor McQuillin graduated following the 2019 season, as did first baseman & former Missouri transfer Rylee Pierce. The Wildcats also will have to work through the departure of Dejah Mulipola a year earlier than expected, as the star catcher is taking a redshirt year while she plays for Team USA.
Additions: Former Oklahoma pitcher Mariah Lopez joined the Wildcats via transfer this summer, to help shore up the team’s pitching staff. The program also added four freshmen, among them catcher Sharlize Palacios, who should see some starts behind the plate.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths – Breaking the WCWS “drought” was huge for Candrea and Co., just to get that monkey off their backs. The Wildcats performed particularly well last season, with a strong showing in conference play, and boast some of the most dynamic offensive weapons in the nation. Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza and Jessie Harper get a lot of attention for swinging their powerful bats, but don’t look past Reyna Carranco and Malia Martinez, either. The team’s lineup is particularly deep.
Weaknesses – Mariah Lopez was a high-profile transfer, and her move to Tucson was met with much acclaim, but whether or not she can be a season-long true pitching ace remains up in the air. Lopez has never had to work a full season’s workload in the ace role, and how she stands up under that pressure will be key to the Cats’ success. The squad lacks experienced depth behind the plate, but also has some talent in the wings that could be poised for a breakout as they’re given their opportunity to shine.
2020 outlook
Pitching – Lopez owns just shy of 300 innings in the circle for her career, but has championship experience from her time at Oklahoma and is the all-time Sooners program record holder for career winning percentage. She’s solid in the circle but again, lacking workhorse experience. Alyssa Denham, also a senior, has “packed on muscle,” according to a report from Ryan Kelapire of the AZ Desert Swarm, and has raised her velocity. That’s good news for the Wildcats, who might be best served going with the dueling-ace approach with the two hurlers. While neither are the single-handed star that McQuillin was, both are quietly effective and should play well off one another.
Offense – Harper and Palomino-Cardoza are two of the game’s top hitters, and the duo anchor the Wildcats batting order. Harper led the nation in home runs last season with a career-high 29 longballs, while Palomino-Cardoza owns fifty-four career longballs, good enough for 12th on the program’s all-time list entering the year. Once again, don’t miss Carranco and Martinez, a pair of quality hitters who fit well into the lineup but aren’t as flashy in their production; Carranco led the program with a .416 batting average in 2019.
Coaching – There’s not much to say about head coach Mike Candrea that hasn’t already been said. One of the game’s bonafide legends, he has built Arizona into a perennial powerhouse over the last several decades. Even during the near-decade with no World Series appearances, Candrea always had the Cats positioned as one of the nation’s top programs, and the 2019 season showed a stark improvement from years past, including the deep postseason run. One of few coaches to surround himself with a coaching staff full of his own former players, Candrea’s staff consists of the two of the finest to come through the program, in associate head coach and legendary outfielder Caitlin Lowe & former pitching great and pitching coach Taryne Mowatt.
Wrap-up
Getting back to the WCWS was huge for Arizona in 2019, and the return came at just the right time. Mulipola’s selection for the US Olympic Team threw a wrench into the Wildcats’ 2020 outlook, though the addition of Lopez in the circle will help make up for McQuillin’s graduation from the circle – no small loss. Look for Arizona to continue to win some big games this season, to challenge for the PAC-12 title, and to put a postseason run together that could wind up back in Oklahoma City once again.
