The Arizona softball team’s quest to return to the Women’s College World Series continues this weekend as it celebrates the program’s most successful decade.
Arizona (21-9-1, 4-5 Pac-12) hosts No. 6 Stanford (25-5, 6-0) for a three-game series on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Friday’s game will be ’90s Night.
The Wildcats have posed in throwback gear for the previous 1970s and 1980s games. They also changed their walk-up songs to tunes like “Highway to Hell” and “Whip it.”
“They’ve been really cool,” said UA coach Caitlin Lowe. “I get text messages after most of them from the alumni, and they mostly want the gear that the girls are wearing in the photoshoots.
Nancy Evans throws during the Women’s College World Series in 1997. UA won five national championships between 1991-97.
“But it’s been fun just to kinda reflect on those moments. I know they get to play some reels and see what it was like back in the day. It’s been awesome to connect with alumni this year and I think the 50th year anniversary has really given us a reason to bring more people in and connect with those past teams.”
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Their previous decade celebrations were the 1970s on Feb. 17 versus Arkansas and the 1980s on March 16 against Washington.
Upcoming decade nights are the 2000s on Apr. 13 with Oregon and the 2010s and 2020s on Apr. 20 against ASU.
UA senior utility Allie Skaggs felt like “the ’90s will be cool.”
“It’s great, I feel like the U of A is just built on its tradition, so it’s been cool to kinda honor the past teams, which has been nice,” Skaggs said. “It’s been cool to kinda just be connected to them. We’ve gotten to talk to a couple different alums, like Jenny Dalton-Hill came in and talked to us when we were on the road at Louisville. It’s just cool to connect to history and kinda remember like what and who came before us.”
In the 1990s, the Mike Candrea-led Wildcats went to the Women’s College World Series 10 times, winning it five times. Hillenbrand Stadium opened in 1993.
Arizona's Allie Skaggs is hitting .325 with a team-high nine homers this season.
“It was huge,” Lowe said about the decade. “I think put us on the map in so many different ways and really just that was Candrea building that legacy. Just tradition of bringing good players but just developing the heck out of those teams and really making them a force. Just winning became tradition then and being at the World Series and winning the World Series became tradition.”
Lowe played at the UA from 2004-07 but was a fan of the Wildcats in the 1990s.
“I think that’s where I fell in love with Arizona softball, I think a lot of people did during that era,” Lowe said. “So I’m just excited to celebrate it but also kinda continue that in the future.”
With this being Arizona’s 50th season, Lowe encouraged the current Wildcats to connect with alumni that wore their number.
“I was able to talk to Lauren Young, which is really cool because she was more recent,” Skaggs said. “It’s cool to connect and be like ‘hey I’m honored to wear your number,’ hope one day that when I’m done there’s a No. 9 that calls and reaches out again, too.”
Young played from 2013-16.
UA sophomore infielder Tayler Biehl hasn’t done it yet but hopes to with Hannah Martinez (2018-22).
“I’ve not reached out yet but I’m hoping to kinda get the connections but I’ve still been kinda learning about Peanut because she’s the one that wore my number before me,” Biehl said. “So I’m kinda learning about her.”
Extra bases
Arizona dropped out of the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25, but this week are No. 21 in the USA/Today NFCA Coaches poll. The coaches have Stanford ranked seventh.
Thursday is Pride Night and Saturday is ZonaZoo Appreciation and “(Satur)day Funday,” replacing the usual Sunday Funday. Kids can run bases after Saturday’s game, and there will be a balloon artist and face painter.
Arizona senior second baseman Allie Skaggs on how the Wildcats can get back to where they belong (the postseason), some youngsters to watch and what it meant to win a Gold Glove (video by Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star)
