Taking Stock: How Arizona softball is looking under coach Caitlin Lowe (2024)

The offseason is here, with all of Arizona’s sports done for 2023-24 season and the 2024-25 campaigns still a little ways away.

Which makes this a great time to step back and see how all of the Wildcats’ programs are doing, especially with the impending move to the Big 12 Conference.

Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at each of the UA’s men’s and women’s athletic programs to see what shape they’re in and what prospects they have for the near future. We’ll break down each team and evaluate how it is performing under its current coaching staff, looking at the state of the program before he/she arrived and comparing it to now while also looking at the upcoming debut in the Big 12 and beyond.

Next up: Caitlin Lowe’s Arizona softball team

How it looked before

Arizona softball was the most successful team sport on campus under former head coach Mike Candrea. Eight national titles stood alone as the most by one head coach and the second most in the sport’s history until Patty Gasso and Oklahoma tied both marks this month.

While the Wildcats missed the Women’s College World Series for almost a decade from their runners-up finish in 2010 to their 2019 appearance and haven't won a national title since 2007, they were still a fixture in the postseason. Arizona missed the NCAA postseason in Candrea’s first season at the helm and never missed it again under his guidance.

UA was not the threat it once was over the final 11 years of Candrea’s tenure, stretching from its final appearance in the national finals to his retirement. It won just one Pac-12 championship over that period and was only a real contender to win a national title once. Both came in 2017 when the second-seeded Wildcats were upset by Baylor in the Tucson Super Regional.

In the 10 postseasons held over those final 11 years, Arizona failed to garner a top eight seed eight times. However, the program was still regularly landing in the top 16, hosting regionals eight times in that timeframe. There was no postseason in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The Wildcats were still a very good program during the final decade under their legendary head coach. They simply were no longer one of the best programs as the sport spread over the country and schools across the southern half of the U.S. started pouring more money into it. It was a different world.

Where things stand now

Lowe was the heir apparent when Candrea retired. He had been grooming her to step into the role for several years. As the most successful head coach on campus, his feelings on who should lead the program he built obviously carried weight.

Lowe had a fairly young and inexperienced team her first season. Many players had transferred out during the final few years of the Candrea era. A big recruiting class joined the program in 2021 but most were blocked due to the return of the 2020 seniors for a fifth year.

In addition to lack of experience, the 2022 team dealt with several key injuries. Pitchers Hanah Bowen and Devyn Netz both pitched through injuries either part or all of the season. Bowen was not with the team at a few points during the year for reasons that were not fully explained during the season, although there were reports that she was in a car accident and dealing with a hip injury that came out during the postseason.

The team didn’t have a great regular season but got into the postseason fairly comfortably. At that point, Bowen and Netz pushed through in the circle. They helped lift the team to a WCWS appearance that no one outside the locker room expected. It was Arizona’s third straight appearance in OKC.

Despite the feel-good story of the 2022 team, the Wildcats lost several players to transfer after it. The biggest loss was catcher Sharlize Palacios, who along with outfielder Janelle Meoño, went into the portal at the end of June and landed at UCLA.

Arizona struggled in Lowe’s second season. Netz was called on to do the bulk of the pitching. Due to injuries, she also played first base and designated player when she wasn’t pitching. It was a lot to ask.

The Wildcats ended the year 29-25 and snapped their 35-year postseason streak. It led to a shakeup in the staff.

Wildcat great Taryne Mowatt-McKinney took the fall. Arizona’s pitching was admittedly not where it needed to be if the Wildcats wanted to compete for conference titles. On the other hand, Mowatt-McKinney had been trying to develop a pitching staff beset by injuries for several years. She also had not recruited most of the pitchers on Arizona’s staff. Early in the 2022 season, she said that 2023 freshman Sydney Somerndike was the first pitcher she had recruited from start to finish.

Lowe brought in young pitching coach Christian Conrad. Conrad hoped to use a system employed by his mentor, Florida State head coach Lonni Alameda. It would focus on gathering data and using that data to figure out the best way to use an entire bullpen. The idea was to use pitchers in combinations that put the most stress on hitters—changing styles, shifting from righties to lefties, changing eye levels.

The system is not the favorite of many old school softball fans. They’re used to having a pitcher like former Stanford ace NiJaree Canady, who pitches almost all of her team’s postseason innings and dominates. However, even teams with a great ace rely on multiple arms these days, as demonstrated by Oklahoma when it took its fourth national title.

The change did help Arizona improve its staff ERA, though. Sophom*ore lefty Aissa Silva, who emerged as the Wildcats’ No. 1 pitcher, had a much stronger year this season than last.

Most importantly, despite an offense that was either the same or slightly worse in most metrics this year, the team won eight more games and lost seven fewer than it did the year before. It was back in the postseason after the one-year hiatus and advanced to the super regionals against future conference rival Oklahoma State.

Despite the ups and downs of her first three years, Lowe has guided the program to the postseason twice. Both times they advanced at least to the super regionals despite playing all their postseason games on the road.

She lost four-year stalwarts Allie Skaggs, Jasmine Perezchica, and Scupin. Also gone are three-year starter Blaise Biringer and two-year contributor Ali Blanchard. Sophom*ore catcher/designated player Olivia DiNardo transferred to Nebraska. However, recruiting position players from the high school ranks has never been a problem for Arizona. The Wildcats bring in another stellar class for the 2025 season.

What life in the Big 12 should look like

With the losses of Oklahoma and Texas, the Big 12 is losing its top dogs. It will have neither the strength at the top that the league has had for over a decade nor the depth of the Pac-12. That’s good for Arizona.

Oklahoma State will be the class of the league next season. The Cowgirls have been to five straight WCWS. They dominated Arizona in the Stillwater Super Regional. And head coach Kenny Gajewski knows how to use the portal.

Two years ago, the Wildcats reportedly had a good chance of getting Lexi Kilfoyl when she left Alabama. Gajewski beat everyone else out to get her. She will leave this season, as will senior Ivy Rosenberry, but he has already brought in strong replacements.

OSU has commitments from former Washington ace Ruby Meylan and former Baylor star Rylee Crandall. Arizona fans know what Meylan can do. Fellow sophom*ore Crandall was on the Big 12 All-Freshman team in 2023. She had an ERA of 3.05 in 130.2 innings her rookie year. As a sophom*ore, there was a slight uptick to 3.20 in 155.1 IP, but it was still a very good season for Crandall.

OSU wasn’t just about pitching last year, either. It had a strong offense, as well. Many of those offensive pieces will be back, including freshmen Karli Godwin and Rosie Davis. It makes the Cowgirls the favorites for the conference title as of now.

Baylor had a good season last year, pushing fourth-seeded Florida to three games in the Gainesville Super Regional before bowing out of the postseason. It will be one of the teams battling Arizona for the No. 2 spot in the league.

As for the other teams entering the Big 12 from the Pac-12, there are big questions hanging over both Arizona State and Utah.

Considering the Utes’ past two seasons—winning the 2023 Pac-12 Softball Tournament and advancing to the finals again this year—it would seem like head coach Amy Hogue has a good chance of getting her team among the group battling for No. 2 in the league. The problem is that she won’t be returning some of the big guns from the last two years.

Mariah Lopez, Sophie Jacquez, Sarah Ladd, Aliya Belarde, and Haley Denning are out of eligibility. Abby Dayton is in the transfer portal. Can Hogue overcome it?

ASU has not been competitive the past two seasons. The Sun Devils have already lost six players to the portal this season. Things don’t look promising for them as head coach Megan Bartlett heads into her third year at the helm.

One big question

Can Arizona pitch to the level required to threaten Oklahoma State?

Arizona has been hoping that strong offense and fielding can lift it to the promised land for a while now. To beat a team that has a strong offense, a strong defense, and strong pitching will require more in the circle, though.

Arizona finished second in the country in fielding percentage last season at .980. While OSU finished several spots down at No. 15, its fielding percentage was just .004 behind the Wildcats at .976. That’s not a big enough difference to make up for the gap in pitching.

On offense, the Wildcats were 15th with 6.27 runs scored per game. The Cowgirls were at No. 22 with 5.95 runs per game.

When it comes to pitching, the gap is much wider and is in OSU’s favor. The Cowgirls ranked 14th with a 2.07 staff ERA. Arizona was 179th with a 3.93 staff ERA. That was eighth in the Pac-12. It would have been seventh in the Big 12 where OSU was ranked third. In addition to the two departing schools and the Cowgirls, Arizona would have fallen behind UCF, Baylor, and Kansas.

Arizona’s pitching staff will be dramatically different next season. Miranda Stoddard just got engaged, but as of now it appears that she will return to the Wildcats. She will join Aissa Silva and Brooke Mannon as the returners on the staff. Netz, Somerndike, and Ryan Maddox should all return from injury. The Wildcats will add Iowa State transfer Saya Swain and freshman Sarah Wright, giving them eight pitchers.

Depending on how scholarships are allocated, carrying eight pitchers is a significant use of resources in hopes of being able to mix and match styles. Softball has 12 scholarships which can be divided among the players. As an equivalency sport, not all players are on full rides.

Last year, Pac-12 teams averaged five pitchers per roster. Five of the nine teams carried just four pitchers. Only Arizona and California carried seven, which was the most of any team.

Big 12 teams tended to carry a few more pitchers, but eight would still be the most. Only UCF had that many in 2024 and most Knights pitchers were listed with multiple positions. The Big 12 averaged 6.1 pitchers per roster.