Jasmine's Perezchica's key insights, performances help as Arizona softball gets set for NCAA regionals

And that trait has served her well.

Each season — sometimes even within a season — her role has changed. Perezchica has always adjusted.

Whether it’s at bat — in the nine hole or leading off — or in the field going from a reserve in her freshman year, to earning more playing time in left field her sophomore year to being penciled in at center every day in her junior season to splitting time in right field with Kaiah Altmeyer this season, Perezchica seems ready to be wherever her her team needs her.

“I think she’s just embraced it all,” senior second baseman Allie Skaggs said. “It’s hard to have your spot solidified, especially in an outfield where you have seven kids who are all very, very talented. Especially as a senior, it’s tough to have that time split but I think she’s done a great job of just staying poised, staying composed and when she does get the opportunity, she’s done great.

“She’s done a great job of taking advantage of her opportunities when they come and I think right now especially she hasn’t been feeling great lately, but she’s been such a trooper for us. And it’s just maintaining that that calm presence that she always brings and she’s giving insight to the girls when they need it. She’s doing a great job of just providing us with what we need from her at the moment.”

Arizona (34-16-1) will be counting on Perezchica’s insights and possibly a timely hit or more when the UA faces Villanova (31-22) to open NCAA Regional play in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Friday at 3 p.m. The game can be streamed via ESPN+.

The regionals are a double-elimination tournament this coming weekend. If the Wildcats win on Friday, they will face either host Arkansas, the NCAA tournament’s 12th seed, or Southeast Missouri State at 3 p.m. on Saturday. If Villanova wins, Arizona plays the loser of the other game at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday with elimination on the line.

Perezchica has been in and out of the UA lineup over the last few weeks. She didn’t make the trip to Stanford for the Pac-12 Championships, with the last game she played coming April 27 at UCLA. She entered the game as a pinch runner in the sixth inning and scored on Dakota Kennedy’s three-run blast that gave the Wildcats a 7-4 lead. They would go on to win 8-4.

On Tuesday afternoon, Arizona coach Caitlin Lowe said that Perezchica was day-to-day after “battling reactions to some medicines.” She traveled with the team to Fayetteville on Wednesday.

Perezchica has loved her time as a Wildcat and taking on whatever comes at her.

“I think we learn to take on new roles every year,” Perezchica said. “And as you can see, my role has been different every single year I’ve been here, which is pretty cool. Not a lot of people get to say that.”

For the Wildcats it’s almost like having a 10th player on the field, even when she’s in the dugout; she’s known for her high softball IQ and for how she studies the game.

“It’s like she’s in Kaiah’s back pocket and she will be there to do whatever I need as far as shifting them around,” Lowe said.

“She thinks the game at a high level. Jaz has always been here,” Lowe said, gesturing a steady motion. “So (we’ll) never see that affect her. I know it’s probably killing her not to be in games all the time but at the same time, she’s right there in the dugout having Kaiah’s back.”

However, it’s not just the insights from Perezchica that are helping her teammates this year; her performances are as well. While she only has 63 at-bats, she’s batting .365 — second highest in her career and third highest Wildcat this season. She has a .377 slugging percentage, a .410 on-base percentage and has driven in 11 runs.

Perezchica also won a pair games for the Wildcats in February in spectacular fashion: walk-offs. In a 14-inning game against Indiana in the Hillenbrand Invitational, Perezchica’s single scored Blaise Biringer in a come-from-behind victory. Eighteen hours later she did it again with another game-winning single in a 5-4 win over Central Michigan. She also walked off Arizona’s 3-2, eight-inning win over Oregon in Tucson last month with a walk-off fielder’s choice — her slap-hit to third with the bases loaded allowing teammate Ali Blanchard to get home ahead of the throw to score the game-winner.

In the field, Perezchica contributed to another another stellar defensive performance by Arizona as a team. The Wildcats posted the second-best fielding percentage in Division I softball at .982. In the infield, the Wildcats have back-to-back Pac-12 defensive players of the year in Skaggs (2023) and shortstop Tayler Biehl (2024). In the outfield, they boast one of the best freshmen in the country in Shockey, Kennedy who makes dazzling catches, along with Altmeyer and Perezchica.

Perezchica finished without an error yet again this season; she has only one error in a UA career that has spanned 170 appearances so far.

Graduating last week with her degree in communications, Perezchica is looking forward to starting her masters in marketing from the Eller College of Management next fall. After that, she wants to work in sports — hopefully in the front office for a professional baseball team.

For now, her eyes are set on one thing: playing in another NCAA Tournament, especially after missing out last season.

“It’s an amazing feeling and I think it’s something not to take for granted,” Perezchica said. “And you don’t realize that until you aren’t able to go. Being at the World Series my first two years here Arizona, really gave me a lot of experience and just a presence to know what to expect. That’s the coolest part.”

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