Over and out: Arizona softball season ends with 10-4 NCAA Supers loss at Oklahoma State

After a nearly 2 1/2 hour weather/lightning delay in Stillwater, Oklahoma, OSU finally closed out a 10-4 win over the visiting Wildcats, giving the No. 5 national seed Cowgirls a two-game sweep and a berth in the upcoming Women's College World Series.

For the Wildcats, a season of certainly more ups than downs — most specifically so in comparison to a a year ago — ended with a return to the NCAA Tournament after a one-year hiatus and the UA sweeping its way to a regional title a week ago in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Defeat or not, Arizona coach Caitlin Lowe said postgame that the way the Wildcats responded after the weather delay — the delay started in the top of the fifth with OSU up 10-3 — said something about the makeup of this year's group of Wildcats.

“We had a whole lot of life," she said of Arizona scoring another run and keeping OSU's bats at bay post-delay. "I think my only regret was that we didn’t play 14 innings that way (over the two games) because I thought that was our best softball that we played — at the very end of the series.

“(OSU) beat us in the last three innings," Lowe said. "It didn’t feel like they were beating our true selves the rest of the weekend. So that felt great."

A day after Oklahoma State (48-10) jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead Friday en route to an 8-0 five-inning, run-rule victory over the Wildcats — an outcome that made Saturday an elimination game for Arizona (37-18-1) — the Cowgirls jumped on top early again in Game 2.

OSU scored three in the first before tacking on seven more — two in the third, two in the fourth, and three in the fifth — to stave off an Arizona offense that started to come alive after mustering just three hits in Friday’s shutout.

For the Cowgirls, Tallen Edwards, Rosie Davis and Claire Timm all had home runs leading up to the lightning stoppage. Arizona sophomore Dakota Kennedy, senior Carlie Scupin and freshman Emily Schepp each had two hits at that point, with Schepp carding her own two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to cut an OSU lead to 7-3. But the Cowgirls tacked on three in the top of the fifth when the game was put on hold with two outs.

Scupin would later add a third hit in her final game as a Wildcat. It was also the final UA appearance for senior infielders Allie Skaggs and Blaise Biringer, grad student Ali Blanchard, and outfielder Jasmine Perezchica, though Perezchica didn't see action in the NCAA Tournament.

UA freshman Regan Shockey had an RBI single in the bottom of the first to make the score 3-1, and sophomore Olivia DiNardo capped the scoring with an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth after the return to action.

While star OSU pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl improved to 26-3 with the win in relief Saturday, DiNardo's double was the first earned run given up by Kilfoyl, a finalist for USA Softball's national 2024 Player of the Year award, in nearly 13 innings of work dating back to the Cowgirls' regional championship winning victory over Michigan last weekend.

It was a rough two-game stretch for Arizona's pitching staff of sophomore Aissa Silva, grad student Miranda Stoddard, freshman Brooke Mannon and Blanchard; combined the UA hurlers allowed 18 earned runs on 19 hits in 12 innings of work over the two losses.

By finishing 2 for 4 on Saturday again out of the leadoff spot, Kennedy ends her sophomore season at exactly .400 on the nose for the season. She joined Shockey in the .400 club — the rookie hit .404 — marking the first time two Wildcats finished at .400 or above since Kelsey Rodriguez and Hallie Wilson did it for Arizona's Super Regional team in 2014.

Lowe said that during Saturday's delay, "we were talking about tornado watches and warnings — and what's the difference between the two."

She said the team was "just trying to stay busy" while waiting for the tarp to come of the Cowgirl Stadium infield.

"These girls just wanted to get back on the field," she said, adding that she's "so proud of the way (the Wildcats) finished the game that way. I think it shows grit, and character.”

Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski agreed with Lowe: Arizona "didn't quit. Just a really good program so we’re thankful that we had a chance to compete against them."

Lowe also spoke of how proud she was of this year's team — including a senior class that went through the highs of back-to-back WCWS appearances as freshmen and sophomores, to the low of being part of the 2023 team that saw the Wildcats' NCAA Tournament streak end at 35 consecutive seasons. That, of course, was before the same group led Arizona back to familiar territory — not just the tournament, but the Super Regional as one of the final 16 teams playing in 2024.

"I just couldn’t be more proud of our team and what we’ve been able to do this season. Very proud of our seniors," Lowe said. "Really sad to see them moving on. But they have left such a lasting impression not just on this program, but on the current team moving forward, on our fanbase in Tucson, on our support staff — a little bit of everything."