It was an extremely active sports weekend in Tucson. From football, to basketball recruiting, to a walk-off hit against a top five team, the Arizona Wildcats were busy from Friday to Sunday. Here's a look at what you might have missed.
Oregon run-rules Arizona softball
A week after No. 9 Arizona swept the California Golden Bears, the Wildcats hit the road to Euegene to face No. 5 Oregon for their second Pac-12 road trip of the season.
In Game 1 on Friday, UA pitcher Taylor McQuillin gave up two home runs to Oregon catcher Gwen Svekis, which lifted the Ducks to 5-2 victory in the first game. That would be the only two runs the Cats scored for the entire trip.
After Game 2 was postponed until Sunday because of rain conditions, Oregon run-ruled Arizona 8-0 and finished the game in sixth inning. Game 3 was played right afterwards, but it had the same results, just a different score.
Sophomore Reyna Carranco was the Wildcat to record a hit in the last game as the Ducks run-ruled the Cats 10-0. Arizona is 0-6 in Pac-12 away games and have been outscored 31-6 by conference opponents on the road.
Arizona is now 27-9 overall on the season and 6-6 in Pac-12 play. The Wildcats return to Hillenbrand Friday, Saturday and Sunday against No. 3 UCLA. Game 1 of the series starts at 7:30 p.m., Game 2 starts at 7 p.m. with Game 3 at 5 p.m. Game 1 will be televised on ESPNU with the final two games on Pac-12 Networks.
This weekend was one of Arizona's toughest challenges of the season with No. 5 Oregon State in town.
Heading into the series, the Wildcats were 2-4 in Pac-12 play and had momentum riding a five-game winning streak.
OSU took care of business in the first game, scoring three runs in the sixth inning to win 6-2 in front of 4,645 fans at Hi Corbett Field on Friday night. After the game, head coach Jay Johnson was delayed speaking to the media, because his postgame team meeting went longer than expected. Johnson spoke to the team for a little over 30 minutes.
The team must've taken whatever Johnson said to heart, because it crushed Oregon State 15-4 Saturday night and then won in walk-off fashion with Alfonso Rivas' single that lifted Arizona to a 6-5 win.
Wildcats move to No. 6 in the conference with a 19-11 overall record on the season.
Beach volleyball sweeps Wildcat Invitational
Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star
The No. 15-ranked Arizona beach volleyball team had a minor setback at the end of March, losing four straight in the Pac-12 South Invitational.
Since then, the Wildcats have won seven out of their last eight matches including a 4-1 victory over Arizona State on Friday.
Freshman Jonny Baham and sophomore Brooke Burling now have an 11-3 record as the pair went undefeated over the weekend.
The Wildcats will travel to Malibu, California to play Pepperdine and Cal Poly on Saturday in the Pepperdine Tri-match.
George Cunningham back on top
George Cunningham
Arizona athletics
Men's golf standout George Cunningham finished the Western Intercollegiate tournament tied for first place after shooting a 70 (-2) on Sunday.
Cunningham finished the tournament at 10-under-par, and finished in the Top 10 for the fourth time this season. The Wildcats as a team finished ninth in the tournament, and shot a 17-over-par.
Cunningham also finished in first place in the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate tournament in September.
Next weekend, the Wildcats will play at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational.
Arizona basketball lands 2018 recruit
UA hoops landed its lone recruit of the 2018 class when four-star combo guard Devonaire Doutrive committed to Wildcats over Georgetown and Arizona State.
Arizona lost three recruits from the 2018 class when McDonald's All-American point guard Jahvon Quinerly decommitted in September after he was presumed to be the recruit that accepted money to play at Arizona.
Four-star prospects Shareef O'Neal and Brandon Williams decommitted from Arizona once an ESPN report was released indicating Sean Miller allegedly was on FBI wiretaps discussing a $100,000 payment to a player, which Miller denied.
Since Arizona's first-round loss to Buffalo in the NCAA Tournament, Miller has been actively recruiting the remaining uncommitted 2018 players as well as graduate transfers. With Doutrive committing, he adds depth to Arizona's backcourt of Alex Barcello, Dylan Smith, Brandon Randolph and Emmanuel Akot.
Who could follow Doutrive? As of now, Arizona is in the running to land five-star power forward Jordan Brown and former UConn commit James Akinjo. Plus, don't count out Williams to re-commit to the UA.
UA track wins Jim Click Shootout
Arizona track and field returned home over the weekend for the Jim Click Shootout, a meet that included Ohio State, Illinois, Auburn, Kansas State and Cincinnati.
Tucson native Turner Washington won the discus over freshman Jordan Geist with a final toss of 183 feet, 5 inches. In the 1,600-meter relay the team of Katelin Warren, Tatum Waggoner, Karolina Pahlitzsch and Brena Andrews beat Ohio State with a time of 3:35.68.
Pahlitzsch also set a personal record time (57.88 seconds) in the 400-meter race, but came in second place.
Justice Summerset, a high jumper and another Tucson native, finished the meet in second place, clearing 7-0½. Combining the scores, the Wildcats took home the Jim Click Shootout. On Friday and Saturday, the Cats will be in La Jolla, California for the Triton Invitational.
Here's a look at the final standings of the Jim Click Shootout:
Women:
Kansas State - 154 points
Arizona - 125 points
Auburn - 121 points
Cincinnati - 107
Illinois - 90
Ohio State - 83
Men:
Arizona - 171 points
Illinois - 161
Ohio State - 113 points
Kansas State - 100 points
Auburn - 75 points
Cincinnati - 57 points
Soccer scrapes by BYU
Kennedy Kieneker
(Courtesy/ Arizona Athletics)
Arizona soccer remains undefeated in the spring period after beating BYU 3-2 in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday.
Senior midfielder Kennedy Kieneker scored two goals: the first one in the fifth minute, and the following one in the second half after BYU tied it up.
Arizona returns to Mulcahy Stadium this Saturday to play Grand Canyon at 1 p.m.
Arizona football practice notes
Kevin Sumlin and the Wildcats will wrap up spring football next weekend.
Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star
By Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star
These Notes and takeaways from the Arizona Wildcats’ open scrimmage at Arizona Stadium on Saturday:
* Safety Scottie Young Jr. did not participate in the scrimmage and hasn’t been practicing with the team for unspecified reasons. Young started nine games as a freshman last season, ranked sixth on the team with 53 tackles and recorded his first career interception in the Foster Farms Bowl. Young also was arrested last September in connection with a domestic-violence incident.
* The “starting” offensive line, from left to right: Layth Friekh, Michael Eletise, Alex Kosinski, Bryson Cain and Cody Creason. Tackle Tshiyombu Lukusa did not participate because of a sprained ankle. Center Nathan Eldridge also did not practice but emerged for the KidCats Club event afterward. Eldridge often has ice packs on his knees after practice, and it’s likely that the coaching staff is managing his reps in spring.
* The “starting” defense: Dereck Boles and PJ Johnson at defensive tackle; Justin Belknap and Lee Anderson III at edge rusher; Colin Schooler and Tony Fields II at linebacker; and Lorenzo Burns, Jace Whittaker, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, Jarrius Wallace and Tristan Cooper in the secondary. Anderson had a fumble recovery on a reverse that the defense blew up.
* Whittaker brought down Jamie Nunley with an open-field tackle on third-and-goal. On the next play, Khalil Tate connected with Shun Brown on a fade route for a touchdown in the back left corner of the end zone.
* The best pass completion happened on the first play from scrimmage. Tate connected with Shawn Poindexter down the left sideline for about 45 yards. Poindexter made a one-handed grab with Lorenzo Burns draped on him. Burns later broke up a similar-looking pass attempt from Tate to Poindexter.
* Backup quarterback K’Hari Lane overthrew an open Stanley Berryhill III in the end zone on a goal-to-go play. On the next play, Lane hit Nunley on a slant for a touchdown.
* Flannigan-Fowles had a tackle for loss on J.J. Taylor and nearly intercepted a Tate pass inside the 10-yard line.
* The main second defensive unit consisted of Finton Connolly and Sione Taufahema (tackles); JB Brown and Jose Ramirez (edges); Jacob Colacion and Anthony Pandy (linebackers); and Tony Wallace, Sammy Morrison, Chacho Ulloa, Troy Young and Xavier Bell (secondary). Freshman tackle Mykee Irving and veteran cornerback Malcolm Holland also rotated in with the second unit.
* Morrison appeared to suffer a shoulder injury late in the scrimmage. Earlier, he flung Devaughn Cooper to the ground with an aggressive tackle.
* Connolly tackled Branden Leon in the end zone for a safety. Connolly was one of several defensive linemen to make plays in the backfield.
* Tony Wallace was involved in the biggest collision of the day, smacking into Leon near the left sideline after Leon hauled in a swing pass.
* Kylan Wilborn and Jalen Harris, who play the “Stud” position, dressed but did not participate. Defensive end My-King Johnson played sparingly. He still looks skinny for a Pac-12 DE.
* Whittaker nearly intercepted Tate in the end zone. Tate had Tony Ellison open but didn’t put quick enough zip on the ball, enabling Whittaker to close the gap and knock the pass down.
* Sophomore tailback Nathan Tilford had a pair of nifty plays. On one, he turned a dump-off pass into a first down. On the second, he caught a swing pass to the left, cut back to the right and scored a touchdown.
* Converted safety Anthony Mariscal had the longest run of the day against a mix of second- and third-team defenders. He followed it up with a touchdown two plays later.
* The Wildcats spent about 15 minutes working on kickoff returns at the start of the scrimmage. Gary Brightwell was the first returner, followed by Taylor. Brightwell later left the scrimmage with an apparent right knee injury. He did not return.
* Josh Pollack missed a 45-yard field goal attempt but later made one from 41 yards. Lucas Havrisik made a 37-yarder but missed a 50-yarder.
* Redshirt-freshman cornerback Malik Hausman did not participate in the scrimmage. He had a sling on his right arm during the KidCats Club event.
