The UA softball team is limping into the postseason, slipping to third in the conference and setting up a first-round Big 12 Tournament matchup with rival Arizona State.
After the No. 20 Wildcats (35-14, 16-8 Big 12) lost their last two regular-season games, they will face No. 6 seed ASU (38-16, 11-13) on Thursday night in the Big 12 quarterfinals.
After winning the first game at Utah (34-19-1, 9-13-1) by five runs — though with the aid of some Ute miscues — the Wildcats were outscored by a combined 15-3 on Saturday and Sunday.
Utah entered the series with an 8-12-1 conference record, competing with ASU and Iowa State for the last two Big 12 Tournament spots. The Sun Devils and ISU were 8-13 heading into the last series, but ASU swept BYU, and Iowa State lost a series, 2-1, to UCF.
Arizona entered the weekend in second place, but with Oklahoma State, winners of seven in a row until Saturday, in close pursuit. The Cowgirls beat Kansas 2-1 in their series to overtake Arizona.
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The Wildcats lost their series when they fell 10-2 in six innings Sunday, the sixth time they have been run-ruled this season.
In the rubber match, Utah struck early with a two-run homer by sophomore catcher Kennedy Proctor in the first inning. Then, in the third junior utility Shonty Passi hit a two-run shot of her own to give the Utes a 4-0 lead.
In the fifth, Proctor hit a solo home run, and then Utah added a couple of sacrifice flies to run the lead to 7-0.
Arizona responded in the sixth with an RBI double by senior utility Sydney Stewart, who then scored on an infield single by senior infielder Tayler Biehl.
Stewart won the Big 12 batting title, hitting .490 during the regular season.
Arizona batter Sydney Stewart gets ahold of a pitch to launch a two-run homer against Houston in the second inning of their Big 12 game on April 24, 2026, at Hillenbrand Stadium.
In the home half of the sixth, junior outfielder Reese Lee scored on a sac fly after it appeared the Wildcats would get her on a double play, but sophomore third baseman Jenna Sniffen hit her when she was trying to throw her out at second after catching a line drive.
Then Utah got the walk-off win with a two-run single from freshman catcher Brooke Tacke. It was Tacke’s first hit of her college career.
Senior Jalen Adams (20-8) got the start after her near shutout in Game 1. She lasted four plus innings, giving up five earned runs, a walk and a hit batter with three strikeouts.
Sophomore Jenae Berry relieved her, going one plus innings with four earned runs on three hits and two walks. Freshman Rylie Holder pitched the final â…”s of an inning for Arizona, with a walk and one costly hit.
Utah sophomore Hailey Maestretti (13-7) secured the win on Sunday and Saturday. In Game 3, she held the Wildcats to five hits, and Arizona left four runners on base.
On Saturday, Utah beat the Wildcats 5-1 to snap Arizona’s four-game winning streak and six-game unbeaten streak against the Utes.
Freshman outfielder Danika Wilson gave Utah an early lead with an RBI single in the first inning.
Then, in the third, Proctor hit a solo home run and freshman utility Cian Noli drove in a run with a single.
In the sixth, Wilson hit a two-run homer.
Arizona ended the shutout with a solo homer by Stewart in the seventh, but that was all the rally the Wildcats could muster.
Holder (11-5), the reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Week, took the loss after going 2â…“Â innings and giving up nine hits and three earned runs.
Arizona starting pitcher Jenae Berry (11) comes on in relief to close out the 13-1 run-rule win over BYU in their Big 12 season opener in Tucson on March 5.
Berry took over in the third and got out of a bases-loaded jam. Berry pitched the final 3⅔ innings, surrendering four hits and two earned runs with two strikeouts.
Maestretti allowed one run on five hits and a walk. She pitched two complete games against the Wildcats.
Arizona beat Utah 6-1 on Friday to open the series.
The reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, Stewart, opened up the scoring at the top of the first. Then junior outfielder Tele Jennings drove in another run with a sac fly.
In the third junior utility Regan Shockey scored on a wild pitch, and then Jennings got another RBI via sacrifice fly.
Senior utility Grace Jenkins hit a triple in the fourth and then scored on an error. Then, in the fifth, the Wildcats added an insurance run thanks to another Utah error.
Wilson drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh to ruin Adams’ shutout, but the senior hurler got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the game without any further damage. Adams (20-7) got the complete game win with six hits, one earned run, four walks, five strikeouts and a hit batter.
The Wildcats will now head to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Tournament. The tourney is single elimination, and should the Wildcats advance, they will face No. 2 Oklahoma State (37-14, 16-8) or No. 7 seed Utah, the two teams that bested Arizona in their last two road series.
Extra bases
– It’s the Wildcats’ first game against ASU outside of Arizona since 2002, a 1-0 Arizona win at the Women’s College World Series. Arizona is 1-1 against the Sun Devils in Oklahoma, having lost to ASU 3-2 in 1985 in the Oklahoma Sooner Invitational in Norman. The rivals have also played in Fullerton, Calif., Houston, San Jose, Calif. and Las Cruces, N.M.
– Arizona’s away record dropped to 8-9 after losing its last three road series. The Wildcats are 26-4 at home and 1-2 in neutral games.
– The Wildcats are 52-18 against Utah all-time. Arizona’s advantage is 31-12 since 2012, when the Utes joined the UA’s conference. Sunday’s game is the Wildcats’ first-ever run-rule loss to Utah.
– Arizona finished tied with Oklahoma State for second place at 16-8, but the Cowgirls took second due to their 2-1 head-to-head record against the Wildcats, the first tiebreaker.
