Olivia DiNardo blast sends No. 25 Arizona softball to 2-0 win over No. 8 Washington, staves off sweep

UA’s pitching gave up six earned runs in the 13-2 loss on Friday and 11 in the 11-3 loss on Saturday. However, No. 25 Arizona (20-7-1, 3-3 Pac-12) only surrendered two walks and three hits on Sunday’s 2-0 win.

Sophomore Aissa Silva (12-3) got the win after suffering losses on Friday and Saturday and senior Miranda Stoddard (2-4) got the save after getting the start.

“I just can’t say enough about Miranda and Aissa,” UA head coach Caitlin Lowe said. “We gave up a ton of runs in the first two games and for them just to come out and just absolutely go after what they’re good at.”

Stoddard got the start on Sunday. She pitched 3⅔ innings on Saturday, giving up nine hit, four walks and seven earned runs.

Silva gave up four runs on six hits on Friday and then on Saturday, she pitched 2⅓ innings in relief and allowed four runs on five hits.

However on Sunday Stoddard pitched 4⅔ innings, giving up three hits and one walk but zero runs.

Silva relieved Stoddard and over 2⅓ innings gave up one walk and no hits or runs before Lowe turned to Stoddard to get the save.

“I thought they were themselves (Sunday),” Lowe said. “You saw feisty Aissa, the swagger on the mound and Miranda was just nails (Sunday) — tough as nails.

“I thought it was just a huge character type win. It was gritty and awesome.”

Sophomore Olivia DiNardo, the designated player in Arizona’s lineup, hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning off UW sophomore Ruby Meylan (8-3).

“I think we came out aggressive and wanting to attack the zone and over,” DiNardo said. “I think we wanted Ruby to come and pitch to us, like we wanted to feel like ‘OK, we got their starter, we deserve to hit off her, we deserve to show that we can do it.’”

DiNardo, who was limited by a hamstring injury, didn’t play Saturday and was 0 for 3 on Friday before starting Sunday 0 for 2.

UA left the bases loaded in the third and stranded two in scoring position in the fourth before taking the lead.

“They were feisty, and they just found a way — found a way to get on base,” Lowe said. “I thought we had opportunities to score and we didn’t early on which was frustrating, but they chipped away.

“They didn’t let it get to them and then I can’t say enough about Liv, she kept her head screwed on (Saturday) and (Sunday), obviously not being in the lineup (Saturday),” Lowe added. “I thought each at-bat in that game she got better. She was right there, didn’t have the results, right there, didn’t have the results — and then kept her head screwed on for that last one.”

The win snapped UA’s five-game losing streak to Washington (20-4, 4-2) after the Huskies swept the series last year in Seattle. Washington had won nine of its last 10 against Arizona.

Arizona freshman outfielder Regan Shockey led off Sunday with a hit in the first inning to snap Washington’s streak of 16 straight outs.

Before breaking through on Sunday, the Wildcats played Huskies tight for most of the Friday and Saturday games.

On Friday, Washington jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning, though Arizona cut the lead to 3-1 heading into the fifth. Washington scored two in the fifth and seven in the sixth for a 13-2 run-rule win in six innings. Senior infielder Blaise Biringer hit an RBI double to plate UA’s first run.

Then on Saturday, Washington took the series with an 11-3 win in six innings, even though UA took am early 3-0 lead. After UW caught up in the second inning, the Huskies led 4-1 going into the fifth again; they scored three in the fifth and fourth in the sixth for another run-rule outcome.

Biringer hit a home run and then an RBI double in that second game.

“I can’t say enough about Blaise’s weekend. She did phenomenal and was able to fill in in the three-hole to give Scoop (senior infielder Carlie Scupin) a breather, Lowe said, referring to senior infielder Carlie Scupin, “and hopefully let her relax a little bit.”