Miranda Stoddard’s big night in the circle lifts Arizona softball to win over South Mountain

Fall ball is about getting ready for spring softball. In many cases, that means playing underclassmen a lot to get them acclimated to college softball. For Miranda Stoddard, it’s about getting acclimated after taking a year off from the sport. That appears to be coming along well for the junior, who struck out six in three innings of work in Arizona’s 9-1 win over South Mountain Community College.

Stoddard relieved starter Aissa Silva, who walked one and gave up an earned run in two innings of work. Silva struck out three and surrendered one hit in the outing. The outing put her fall ERA at 1.62.

With Arizona and SMCC tied 1-1 going into the top of the third, Stoddard entered the game. She threw 50 pitches, 38 of them going for strikes. In addition to the six strikeouts, she induced three groundouts from the 10 batters she faced. It dropped Stoddard’s fall ERA to 1.00.

Freshman Brooke Mannon again showed that she can miss the bats. Mannon came in for the final two innings. Of the six batters she faced, three struck out. She also got one flyout and two groundouts.

On offense, Carlie Scupin continued her hot fall. She had her second multi-homer game of the exhibition season. It pushed her total to six in five fall games.

Scupin’s first home run was especially important. She came to the plate with Regan Shockey on base and the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning. Scupin deposited the 2-2 pitch over the right-field fence for a 3-1 lead.

Arizona tacked on five more in the bottom of the fourth for the final score. Four the runs, including the two that came off Scupin’s second homer, were unearned.

Shockey also had a busy night on offense. The freshman centerfielder went 3 for 3 at the plate and scored four runs. She also had one RBI and stole three bases. The Wildcats ended the night with a total of five steals.

Sophomore outfielder Kaiah Altmeyer joined Shockey with a 3-for-3 night.

Arizona completes its fall schedule on Friday, Nov. 3. The Wildcats open with a game against Arizona Western at 4 p.m. The nightcap against Chandler-Gilbert is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. MST.