Arizona hosted the annual Arizona Softball Fall Invitational this weekend and finished the event 5-0.
Five teams came to Hillenbrand Stadium to compete with Arizona in the round-robin style event. Local teams Pima Community College, Arizona Western and Central Arizona were welcomed along with out-of-state competitors Cypress College and Mt. San Antonio College.
Play started on Friday night and the Wildcats started fast.
Redshirt juniors Danielle O’Toole and Nancy Bowling threw a combined no-hitter against Arizona Western, as the Wildcats won by mercy rule 13-0 in five innings.
O’Toole got the nod on the mound and struck out six through four perfect innings. Bowling struck out one and walked another to complete the no-hitter. The Wildcats scored in each of their four innings at the plate, including a 10-run second inning.
True freshman Hillary Edior hit her first career home run and senior Lauren Young continued her hot start this fall with a home run of her own.
The Wildcats swept the out of town competition with a 5-1 victory over Cypress College and a 16-6 victory in five innings over Mt. San Antonio in a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.
True freshman Taylor McQuillin was dazzling against Cypress in her first college start, tossing six shutout innings while allowing just two hits. Freshman Tamara Statman hit her first home run as a Wildcat and Katiyana Mauga added her fourth homer of the fall to lead the way for Arizona.
The offense exploded again in game two of the Saturday doubleheader against Mt. San Antonio. Statman launched her second home run of the day and Mauga added a grand slam in the fourth, topping off an incredible day from the duo.
The combo combined for eight RBIs, four home runs and batted 6-for-11 (.545).
Arizona picked up Sunday afternoon right where it left off, exploding for six runs in the first inning off hits from six different Wildcats against Central.
Sophomore Robyn Porter belted her first home run of the fall way over the left field fence in the second inning. Bowling turned in a masterful performance on the mound, striking out 10 batters while holding Central to just one hit and no runs in her four innings of work.
The Wildcats scattered 14 hits, including four extra base hits, as nine different players recorded a hit in the game.
Arizona won 10-0 by run rule after five innings.
Home runs were contagious at the start of the second game against Pima.
Statman started things off with a three-run homer, her third in three games. Bowling followed that with a solo homer of her own to make it back-to-back home runs. Porter hit her second home run of the day in the second inning to make it 12-0 Wildcats.
Mauga finished her weekend in grand fashion, hitting for the cycle and adding her sixth homer of the fall, as the Wildcats went on to win 21-0 by mercy rule in five innings.
The team closes out the fall season with a 10-inning exhibition against Phoenix College at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Hillenbrand Stadium.
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