Arizona Wildcats
Overall Rank: #12
Conference Rank: #3 Pac-12
The Wildcats made it to their third consecutive Super Regional last season, but fell just short of making it to the Women's College World Series, dropping a third and deciding game to Auburn. The 2017 edition of the Arizona softball team is a nice mixture of upperclassmen and underclassmen, as 10 of the 23 players on the roster are juniors or seniors.
2016: 40-21, 13-11
2016 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Mike Candrea
Key Departed Players:
Lauren Young, C, .276 BA, 45 H, 7 2B, 6 HR, 30 RBI
Key Returning Players:
Danielle O'Toole, P, .26-12, 2.17 ERA, 216 IP, 192 K
Taylor McQuillin, P, 12-8, 3.17 ERA, 128 IP, 137 K
Mo Mercado, SS, .378 BA, 73 H, 8 HR, 12 2B, 45 RBI
Mandie Perez, OF, .338 BA, 67 H, 59 R, 12 2B, 11 HR, 35 RBI, 12 SB
Katiyana Mauga, 3B, .317 BA, 21 HR, 62 RBI, 53 H
Projection:
The Wildcats bring pretty much everyone back. Literally. Other than Lauren Young, every other player that started a minimum of 28 games is back. That's huge for a team, knowing what it has production-wise coming back. Arizona also gets its top two pitchers back. It's easy to see why the Wildcats are expected to do so well and as if they needed any help, they also bring in two high school All-Americans in Reyna Carranco and Jesse Harper, as well as Dejah Mulipola, who was the No. 5 recruit in the country according to FloSoftball. The Wildcats started the season by hosting two tournaments, including one where they face Baylor, Northwestern and Tulsa in consecutive games in the first weekend of the season. Arizona also faces Florida State at the Mary Nutter Classic, hosts Texas in a weekend series and gets Oklahoma in Long Beach during nonconference play. The Wildcats luck out and host ASU, Washington and Oregon this year, while having to travel to UCLA.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Softball Tournament
Madness 2017 Draft Rankings:
#9 Katiyana Mauga
