For most coaches, replacing one-third of your starting batting order and your top pitcher, while continuing to contend for a national championship would be an impossible task. For Arizona’s Mike Candrea, that scenario is his reality, though he doesn’t believe it will keep his Wildcats from contending amongst the game’s elite.
“It’s hard for any coach to say ‘I’ve got [those spots]filled,” said Candrea. “I look back at those seniors that we lost, I remember what they were like as freshmen and sophomores. That’s a big part of this job, to help people grow, help them graduate, help them get on in the real world and replace them with someone else who is going to get the same opportunity. Are you going to replace a [Katiyana] Mauga or a [Mo] Mercado overnight? Probably not. But there’s always a possibility that you will. I feel like it’s the next opportunity for the next generation to come in and make their name.”
Candrea’s club finished the regular season with a 48-7 record, but went a surprising 4-2 in the postseason as the #2 overall seed and suffered a shocking Super Regionals loss to Baylor. Despite the season’s surprising finish, Candrea had many positive takeaways from his team’s 2017 performance.
“My takeaway from last year is [that]I thought it was a team that was very well balanced. We played extremely hard and we had a really good season… at this stage of my life and understanding what the big picture is like, I was very proud of that team and what they accomplished. I think they put Arizona back on the map, which was one of our goals at the beginning of the year… Obviously the end was disappointing, but we’ll grow from it and move forward.”
With a much younger squad under his command on the field in 2018, Candrea sees his program’s future as extremely bright. “For our young team, we have a very strong nucleus for young players that will be come back hungry and be ready for another opportunity. It’s not a problem to keep them encouraged [after the disappointing end to last season]. That’s the one thing that you teach in our process is taking care of today and then if today doesn’t go right, you reset and you get ready for tomorrow. One thing I’ve been teaching all along is that nothing in this game is going to be life-threatening to you. You’ve got to keep the game in perspective.”
Candrea made offseason headlines this fall by hiring Wildcat legend Taryne Mowatt to be his new pitching coach, following Stacy Iveson’s move into a primarily administrative role. “Taryne was our #1 priority [for pitching coach],” Candrea said. “I had a chance to see her develop as a coach at Ole Miss and what she did with the staff there. I knew a lot of great players that really weren’t great teachers. It confirmed to me that Taryne was the right choice and the person that we wanted because I had a chance to watch her perform. I like her intensity, she loves the game, and has a passion to make kids better. She’s very cool under pressure. She brings confidence, she carries herself with confidence and I think that confidence will definitely be carried over into the pitchers that she works with here.”
Before the early December news of Alyssa Denham’s transfer in from Louisiana-Lafayette, Candrea was already enthusiastic about the potential in his pitching staff. “With [Taylor] McQuillin on the mound, she’s a former Gatorade player of the year, she has proven she can be that go-to person,” Candrea said. “I’m hoping that this year is the year that she finds that, she feels that.” Freshmen Hanah Bowen and Taylor Gilmore, as well as former Purdue transfer Gina Snyder, round out the Wildcats pitching staff.
Alyssa Palomino’s injury in the midst of the postseason in 2017 was an unexpected hitch in the team’s postseason and championship hopes; “that really hurt us when Palomino went down for the Supers,” according to Candrea. Now back at full health and expected to be a key cog for the Wildcats in 2018, Candrea says, “she is a very tough out, one of the better hitters in the country, and I think she has come back from this injury really well and is strong.”
The addition of slugging all-American outfielder Aleah Craighton, the second player to join the Wildcats from Lafayette, Louisiana this month, should provide a big boost to Candrea’s batting order, as well as his club’s outfield defense.
Candrea expects his club not only to contend for the conference title, but a national championship in 2018, as well. “I really think that, on any given day, we don’t have a problem competing with anyone. I think that’s how every team in the PAC-12 has been for a long time…. I think that a national championship for 2018 will be a success for our team. At Arizona, that’s our ultimate goal every year; to play the last game of every season.”
The Wildcats kick off the 2018 season on February 9 against Northwestern at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona.
