Arizona softball powers past Marist in final warmup before Pac-12 play

It didn’t take Arizona softball long to get the bats going on Sunday afternoon. After hitting seven home runs in Saturday’s doubleheader, the Wildcats hit four more to close out the Bear Down Fiesta and take the 12-2 win over Marist in five innings.

Carlie Scupin got the scoring started by knocking in Jasmine Perezchica with a two-run homer to right field in the bottom of the first. It was her 11th home run of the season.

“I feel like she’s a very calming presence at the plate,” said graduate manager Jessie Harper. “She’s not trying to do too much...She reminds me of Reyna (Carranco). Reyna would walk up there and just know she got stuff done. She’s very mellow and just did her thing.”

Scupin went two for three with three RBI on the day, raising her season average to .500. Both hits went for extra bases.

“(Hitting behind Scupin is) pretty comfortable because she kind of just takes care of business,” said cleanup hitter Izzy Pacho. “And I just go up there trying to start it again, because usually, she’s clearing the bases.”

Bailey Thompson got on base via a hit by pitch to put one on for Sharlize Palacios. Her home run was to center, putting two more runs up for the Wildcats.

Arizona put a total of six runs on the board in the opening inning with RBI singles from Perezchica and Allie Skaggs rounding out the scoring.

Pacho and Peanut Martinez added home runs in the second and third innings, respectively. The pair tied Scupin with a game-high three RBI each.

Hanah Bowen pitched a strong three innings for the Wildcats, allowing one hit and one walk on 55 pitches. She improved her record to 6-2 on the year.

Bowen was lifted for Madi Elish at the top of the fourth. Elish promptly gave up a single and an RBI double to put Marist on the board. A walk and another single gave the Red Foxes their second run, closing the Arizona lead to 12-2.

The Wildcats sent three pinch hitters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth, and Elish closed the game out with a 1-2-3 fifth.

Arizona will try to take the confidence they gained into next week when they will travel to Westwood to open Pac-12 play against UCLA. The Wildcats hope that the opportunities given to multiple players this week will pay off as they head into conference play.

“I was just happy, honestly, that everybody was ready when their time was called,” said head coach Caitlin Lowe. “Because it could have gone the other way and said, ‘Oh, Sophia (Carroll) went down. Oh, (Janelle Meoño) went down,’ and instead, they stepped up and took advantage of their opportunity. So, I was very impressed with especially the bottom of our lineup stepping up.”

The Bruins will be the first ranked team the Wildcats have faced since they played No. 1 Oklahoma on Feb. 26. UCLA is currently ranked fifth.