By Lance Madden

As the sun sank like an anchor in the final game of the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) championship series, the skies above Oklahoma City, Okla. turned blue and red. So did Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame Stadium.

The Arizona Wildcats posted five runs in the fifth inning in that game on June 6, setting the foundation for a 5-0 win over Tennessee to capture their second national title in as many years, and their eighth since 1991.

But it was not an easy road to victory. The Wildcats clawed their way back game by game throughout the WCWS, where 62,463 fans were present, shattering last year’s mark of 46,122. They scraped back as gradually as the clouds that inched across the Oklahoma sky.

The top-seeded Wildcats faced elimination from the tournament five times and won all five games. A loss to Tennessee in the preliminaries of the double-elimination tournament meant that Arizona had to beat DePaul and then Washington twice in one day to get to the championship series. And they did.

For Arizona head coach Mike Candrea, the way his team overcame adversity made the win that much sweeter.

“For a coach, that's probably more special to me than anything, the way they went about their business,” he said. “They kept calm, they kept cool, they kept composed, and they believed.”

The one that most everyone believed in most was junior Taryne Mowatt (42-12), the Arizona ace who threw every single pitch — 1,035 to be exact — in the WCWS for the Wildcats. As the series’ Most Outstanding Player, she tossed in eight games over seven days.

“It kinda just feels dead,” Mowatt said of her arm after her performance in Game 3. “It's not really sore anymore. It feels really heavy. I haven’t gotten a good night's rest the last two nights because I'd lie in bed, and I'd just ache.”

The victory aided in alleviating the pain.

With calls coming from pitching coach Nancy Evans, who pitched for Arizona from 1994-1998, Mowatt tossed changeups liberally in every conceivable situation. She broke Tennessee starting pitcher Monica Abbott's record for the most strikeouts in the WCWS as she struck out 76 batters, one more than Abbott.

“I've not seen anything like that, that style of pitching,” Tennessee co-head coach Ralph Weekly said. “She never showed us a pattern the whole time.”

It’s hard to believe that Mowatt was not the dominant one in the series. Abbott (50-5) had pitched 43 scoreless innings in the WCWS until Game 2 of the finals, when Arizona got several key hits against the hard-throwing 6-foot-3 lefty to win the game 1-0 in 10 innings.

The Lady Vols (63-8) were trying to become the first Southeastern Conference team to win the national championship, while Abbott, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and Honda Sports Award winner, was attempting to become the third pitcher to lead the nation in strikeouts and win a championship in the same season.

Though it didn’t happen, Abbott struck out seven in her final collegiate game, finishing a remarkable career as the NCAA record-holder in wins (50), shutouts (29), and strikeouts (724).

“One of the things that really bothers me in that sometimes a pitcher is judged on whether or not she wins a national championship,” Weekly said. “I think anybody that saw (Game 3) knows that she pitched well enough to win a national championship.”

The blame doesn’t rest solely on Abbott’s shoulders though. Tennessee couldn’t produce with runners in scoring position. The Lady Vols stranded 14 runners in Game 2 and another 12 in Game 3. They left the bases loaded twice in the finale.

“The most important stat in the game is RBI, and that’s the kind of the thing that got us,” Weekly said. “We couldn’t get the key hit when we needed it.”

On the contrary, Arizona was able to manufacture runs when it counted the most.
Wildcats shortstop Kristie Fox hit .500 (11-for-22) in the WCWS, while center fielder Caitlin Lowe had six hits against Abbott in the four games against the Big Orange during the series.

Lowe was going on no sleep when the Wildcats’ team bus pulled onto National Championship Drive in Tucson behind a police escort the day after the big win, and passed underneath two spraying fire hoses.

No need for sleep when you’re already living a dream.

“I have yet to be woken up,” she said with a smile.

After the team was greeted by nearly 3,000 fans in McKale Center, where the UA basketball team plays, toddlers and grandparents alike met the team with cheers as the Wildcats entered the arena.

Most of the Wildcats stayed long after the ceremony to sign autographs and pose for pictures. They could sleep later.

“As tired as we are,” second baseman Chelsie Mesa said, “we wouldn't have it any other way.”