Arizona Softball Coaches Honored as Nation's Best

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University of Arizona (compiled by The Wildcat Online)

It's the players who climb the mountain of success, but it's the coaches who stay behind them the whole way, pushing them toward their goals.

The Arizona softball coaches have been named the NCAA Division I staff of the year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, after the Wildcats won their eighth national title, and second straight, in June.

UA head coach Mike Candrea, assistants Larry Ray and Nancy Evans, volunteer assistant Dave Feinberg and student assistant Alicia Hollowell will be honored at the NFCA national convention in Las Vegas Nov. 28-Dec. 1.

"It's a huge honor," Evans said. "It's a humbling experience. We worked really hard this year with our team, and it paid off in the end."

Throughout the season, Evans put together scouting reports, and also gathered video and charts on opposing hitters.

The cerebral approach the coaches brto the game is what allowed the Wildcats to finish 50-14-1 this season, said junior pitcher Taryne Mowatt.

"Nancy has always been there, teaching me the mental part of the game," she said. "She never really tampered too much with the physical part and the mechanics of the game."

Tennessee Pitcher Honored as Top Player

Tuesday's Frat Boy News Daily Sports Page

College Softball World Series (compiled by ESPN.com)

Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott won the Honda Award as the nation's top softball player.

Abbott, whose career ended one win short of the NCAA championship last week, was voted the top player in her sport by NCAA member schools on Monday. Other nominees were Kaitlin Cochran and Katie Burkhart of Arizona State, and Caitlin Lowe of Arizona.

Abbott holds NCAA Division I career records for wins (189), appearances (253), strikeouts (2,440), shutouts (112) and innings pitched (1448.0). She plans to train with the U.S. national team.

"I definitely have Olympic dreams in the future and would like to play softball for as long as I can," she said. "After that, I'd like to become a motivational speaker for children at the elementary school through high school level. And, of course, coach softball one day."

Tennessee's Candace Parker won the award in basketball.

Tennessee Girls Look Back on Great Season After Loss to Arizona

Friday's Frat Boy News Daily Sports Page

College Softball World Series (compiled by Graham Hays ESPN.com)

Almost every game at the Women's College World Series is a pitcher's duel, which is precisely why the last five years have proven you need hitters to win a championship.

Since Cat Osterman first led Texas to Oklahoma City in 2003, each subsequent World Series featured Osterman, Tennessee's Monica Abbott or both. And yet for all the postseason innings pitched by arguably the two best pitchers in the history of college softball -- and unquestionably the two most dominant pitchers of their tenures in the collegiate ranks -- neither the Longhorns nor Lady Vols could claim a national championship.

"One of the things that really bothers me is sometimes a pitcher is judged on whether she wins a national championship," Tennessee co-coach Ralph Weekly said after his team became the second in three years to lose the best-of-three championship series after winning the first game. Arizona beat the Lady Vols 5-0 Wednesday to claim the Wildcats' eight NCAA softball title.

The NCAA career leader in strikeouts, shutouts and a host of other statisical categories, Abbott was gracious and composed in defeat, fighting back tears at one point, but talking also of her plans for a future in international softball and outside of the game.

"Anybody who saw the game last night knows that [Abbott] pitched well enough to win the national championship," Weekly added. "But we left nine runners in scoring position, when all it would have taken was a sacrifice fly or a single to end it. And we just couldn't get it done, and that's not a knock against our kids either, because that was a collective effort."

Abbott finally succumbed in the final game of her college career, allowing five runs in one inning after allowing a total of five in her previous 90 innings.

She wasn't perfect in the finale, just as Osterman wasn't perfect at times during her stays in Oklahoma City. But those failures came only relative to the impossible standards of perfection, a level both Osterman and Abbott were charged with maintaining because they couldn't count on run support behind them.

In the end, it's not that Abbott failed to win a championship; it's that Tennessee failed to win a championship.

A Cat Fight in Tight White Pants

Thursday's Frat Boy News Daily Sports Page

College Softball World Series (compiled by azcentral.com)

Taryne Mowatt finished what she started and Arizona won its eighth NCAA softball title, breaking loose against Tennessee ace Monica Abbott for a 5-0 victory Wednesday night in the Women's College World Series.

The top-seeded Wildcats (50-14-1) lost the opener in the best-of-three championship series, then bounced back to win the final two games.

Mowatt (42-12) pitched all 60 innings in the tournament for Arizona and became the first pitcher to win seven games in the event.

It was scoreless in the fifth inning when Arizona scored all five runs. Jenae Leles hit a two-run single and Chelsie Mesa added a three-run homer for the Wildcats (50-14-1). Arizona, which needed help from an error to break Abbott's 43-inning scoreless streak in Game 2, got several key hits against her this time.

Caitlin Lowe, Arizona's speedy leadoff hitter, started the fifth inning by reaching on a slapped grounder back to Abbott (50-5). K'Lee Arredondo followed with a single, and an error by right fielder Nicole Kajitani put runners at second and third.

Abbott then intentionally walked Kristie Fox, who tied the tournament record with 11 hits, to load the bases for Mesa. Mesa's grounder made it through to center field to score the first two runs, and Mesa hit a 3-2 pitch over Kajitani's outstretched arms and the wall.

Mowatt broke the school record for wins in a season set by Alicia Hollowell in 2004.

Arizona Ladies Force Deciding Game in College Softball World Series

Wednesday's Frat Boy News Daily Sports Page

College Softball World Series (compiled by NPSE Zone)
Tuesday was officially ladies night on ESPN2, as a doubleheader of women's sports were showcased on the network.

The women of Arizona's softball team squared up the best-of-three College Softball World Series Tuesday night at one-game a piece behind a 10-inning shutout by pitcher Taryne Mowatt in a 1-0 victory over the lovely ladies of Tennessee.

Elsewhere in the WNBA, the Minnesota Lynx knocked off the Phoenix Mercury by just 5 points to improve their record to 1-7 on the season.

*College Softball World Series image courtesy of ESPNtv.com