Ask Larry Ray about the Arizona Wildcats' softball bats, and he tells you what he knows.
The team swings a model of Nike bat not available to the public, the interim coach said. Arizona is the only team — professional or college — that receives the new Nike bats, which are "specifically made for us and our standards," he said.
Ask him the name of the model and a smile forms in the corner of his mouth.
"I'd tell you," he said, "but I'd have to kill you."
The bat is no secret at all.
Nike's Athena bat was first tested in the fall, after coach Mike Candrea's contract with Worth expired after a decade. The coach brought a bag of bats from different companies to fall practice, and his players tried them out.
"We had been talking for years that if (Nike) put a bat on the market, would I be interested in looking at it?" said Candrea, who is coaching the U.S. Olympic team this season. "The girls ended up really liking the Nike bat."
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The Athena bat, like most at the NCAA level, is a composite of titanium and carbon. The NCAA and Amateur Softball Association dictate balls cannot fly off the bat any faster than 98 mph when they are first made; however, composite bats tend to get stronger with use. Last year, the NCAA tested composite bats after the Women's College World Series to see just how strong they become.
Arizona's players are thrilled with the new bat — even if they insisted Nike change the original orange color to black.
"The very first time we swung the bats and hit a little grounder, it was like 'Wow, I hit that so hard, and I wasn't even trying,'" first baseman Laine Roth said.
Last year, WCWS finalists Tennessee and Arizona swung Worth bats, and Wildcat players were not crazy about them.
"When we swung (Nike's bats) for the first time, it was like, 'These are gonna be sweet bats,' " second baseman Sam Banister said. "It makes a different sound — 'Wow, I got all of that' — as opposed to the Worth bat: 'Wow, I got all of that. It's a pop-up.' "
Candrea signed a three-year deal with Nike, which supplies uniforms for all of Arizona's athletic teams. As part of the bat package, Nike provides Arizona with helmets, batting gloves and fielding gloves. The company is still working on developing catchers' gear.
"The athlete's got to like the bat and have confidence with the bat that it performs well," Candrea said. Consider the Wildcats confident.
Already this season, their 68 home runs are 10 more than last year's total of 58. Entering tonight's game against Oregon, the Wildcats have 70 doubles — two fewer than they had all last year. Their .550 slugging percentage eclipses last year's .444 number.
"It's always a hard thing to determine," Ray said. "You don't know if it's technology or if it's the player."
It is likely a bit of both. This season, the Wildcats do not rely as much on their short game, mainly because of the loss of leadoff star Caitlin Lowe and — believe it or not — their own infield dirt.
The Wildcats' infield, traditionally rock-hard to help with slap hitting, was remodeled over the summer. Now, the dirt is "extremely soft," Ray said.
It was not part of the plan; the Wildcats' hard surface has been considered an advantage for years. The UA has tried to compact the dirt by using a steamroller and compactor, but "nothing seems to work," Ray said.
The Wildcats will look at changing the surface again during the off-season.
In softball, even the smallest edge inspires confidence. Bats included.
"It's like standing on the tee box and having the Tiger Woods driver," Ray said. "It's definitely going to make you feel better, and that's half the battle now in athletics."
UA this weekend
• Today: 7 p.m. vs. Oregon
• Saturday: 7 p.m. vs. Oregon State
• Sunday: noon vs. Oregon State
• Notes: Interim head coach Larry Ray gave the Cats three days off to recover from last weekend's losses at Arizona State, and also because the team skipped its spring break to play this season. … Pitcher Taryne Mowatt, whose ERA rose from 1.67 to 2.14 in the last 19 days, likely will start tonight and Sunday, Ray said, with Sarah Akamine or Lindsey Sisk pitching Saturday. … The UA is No. 8 in the USA Softball/ESPN.com poll and No. 11 in the NFCA/USA Today poll.
