Arizona softball splits pair in Hillenbrand Invitational

Entering Saturday, Arizona had mercy-ruled all seven opponents it had faced at Hillenbrand Stadium.

That streak came to and, as did the Wildcats’ perfect record on their home field, as part of a 1-1 performance during Day 2 of the Hillenbrand Invitational.

The 16th-ranked UA (14-6) lost 10-3 to Nebraska before rebounding to beat Texas A&M-Commerce 17-8 in five innings.

Nebraska used a 5-run third inning to hand the Wildcats their first home loss, tagging ace Devyn Netz for five runs in 2.1 innings. Arizona got all its runs in the first game in the bottom of the second on a 2-run triple from Tayler Biehl followed by Jasmine Perezchica’s RBI single. Perezchica had two hits in each game Saturday, making her 8 for 13 with five runs scored and five RBI in four games since returning from a concussion.

The win over A&M-Commerce began much like Arizona’s 14-0 win against Commerce did on Friday, with the Wildcats again putting up 11 runs in the bottom of the first. Perezchica and Olivia DiNardo both had two hits in that inning, with DiNardo going 3 for 3 with three RBI to raise the freshman’s average to .519.

The UA hit three home runs in the win, with Carlie Scupin putting one on top of the Gittings Building and Allie Skaggs hitting her fourth bomb in the last five games after going without a homer in the first 15 contests.

Arizona wraps up the Hillenbrand Invitational Sunday at 2 p.m. MT against Cal State-Northridge, the final nonconference game before Pac-12 play begins next weekend at ASU.