Arizona softball sweeps Utah with record-breaking win

In his 34 seasons coaching Arizona softball, Mike Candrea has seen plenty of lopsided affairs.

Yet even Candrea must have been in awe this weekend of his team’s potent offensive power.

With a 13-2 run-ruled win over Utah Sunday afternoon, Arizona swept the Utes and in the process set a school-record 48 runs in a Pac-12 series.

Arizona is off to a 12-0 start in conference play and has won 14 straight games. The Wildcats are outscoring opponents 136-13 in that stretch.

Utah gave Arizona a tight contest for much of Sunday.

Taylor McQuillin started in the circle for the Wildcats and kept Utah scoreless until the fourth inning when she gave up a rare two-run homer.

Arizona’s offense wasn’t nearly as dominant as Saturday’s 22-run outing, but the Wildcats eventually got to Utah pitcher Hailey Hilburn with a four-spot in the top of the third.

Hillary Edior led Arizona with a 4-4 day at the plate, including an RBI single.

Rylee Pierce hit a two-run opposite field homer to bring the lead to 4-0.

The Wildcats used Dumke Stadium’s stretched out walls — 235 feet to center, 225 feet down the right and left field lines — to their advantage in the fifth inning, producing a pair of extra base hits to break the game open.

Up 4-2, Arizona transformed a tight game into another run-rule affair by scoring nine runs in the inning.

Arizona had added a pair of runs to its lead when Jenna Kean hit her second triple in as many days to bring three more runs home, putting the score at 9-2.

A few batters later, Malia Martinez cleared the bases with a three-run double to give Arizona a 13-2 lead.

Martinez is a good pick to win Pac-12 Player of the Week, having tallied 18 RBIs in five games.

Arizona now turns its attention to a three-game non-conference road series at GCU next weekend.

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