Shortly after Arizona’s game on Sunday night, after a Wildcats win, Jessie Harper was conducting a postgame television interview when some ice cubes started coming her way.
First it was one at a time, then it was handfuls, all thrown by star Arizona pitcher Danielle O’Toole.
It was Senior Night, and the seniors were supposed to be the story. To honor Arizona’s eight-person senior class, posters with each of their numbers lined the center field walls, each player’s mother simultaneously threw the game’s ceremonial first pitch to their respective daughters and there was the usual senior post-game ceremony.
But it wasn’t a senior that was the story of Sunday’s game, an 8-0 Arizona win over No. 23 Arizona State in five innings, securing the series win after the third-ranked Wildcats lost on Saturday night.
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Harper stole their thunder. Arizona’s seniors didn’t mind.
“This is a group,” said senior shortstop Mo Mercado. “We were like, ‘yes, steal it girl!’”
In the second inning, the freshman first baseman followed a Mercado solo home run with one of her own, a shot to right-center.
In the fourth, Harper cleared the bases with a grand slam, scoring Mercado, Alexis Dotson and Ashleigh Hughes, and putting the game out of reach. Arizona clinched the win when Alyssa Palomino, a redshirt freshman, followed Harper’s grand slam with a solo homer to center, her 16th of the season.
For Harper, it was home runs No. 17 and 18, tied for the most in the nation for a freshman.
What senior night?
“I really wanted to do it for our seniors,” Harper said. “I know (Saturday) was a little bit of an upset, we just wanted to come out here strong. This whole year has been about the seniors.”
It’s not as if the seniors had a bad night, anyway.
With the win, Arizona improved to 47-5 (17-4 Pac-12) on the season. Staff ace O’Toole (26-3) was dominant, pitching a one-hitter with five strikeouts. O’Toole twice managed to get out of jams with runners in scoring position.
“It’s nice to have Toolie on the mound,” UA coach Mike Candrea said. “You always feel good with her.”
O’Toole received a pregame surprise from her sister, Ashley, who sang the national anthem.
“I didn’t know (she would sing) so I cried,” O’Toole said. “She doesn’t like singing in front of people and that was the first time she sang in public …
“I think it made me feel loose. Normally I’m nervous for the first couple of innings.”
Mercado was the one to get things rolling with that second-inning homer, and she drove in another run in the fourth when she walked with the bases loaded.
“It’s really good for us getting hot before UCLA,” Mercado said. “We wanted to come out today and close the series well and take that into next week so it was good.”
UA will next travel to UCLA for a three-game set beginning 5 p.m. Friday.
Inside pitch
- Catcher Dejah Mulipola returned to the lineup after she was hit in the face with a p
- itch on Saturday night, left the game and didn’t return. Typically at the No. 2 spot in the lineup, Mulipola was dropped to No. 7.
- The eight seniors honored Sunday included Mercado, O’Toole, third baseman Katiyana Mauga, outfielder Mandie Perez, pitcher Mic
- helle Floyd, pitcher Nancy Bowling, outfielder Alexis Dotson and outfielde
- r Eva Watson.
Contact:zrosenblatt@tucson.com or 573-4145. On Twitter: @ZackBlatt
