6 unbreakable Arizona softball records

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They say records are meant to be broken, but when it comes to Arizona Wildcats softball, one of the most storied programs in the sport’s history, there are some that are likely to stand the test of time.

Here’s a look at six of them.

Mike Candrea’s win total (1,633 and counting)

The NCAA’s all-time wins leader, Candrea has racked up 1,633 wins and counting in 35 years at Arizona, and he’d have about 100 more if he didn’t miss the 2004 and 2008 seasons to coach the U.S. Olympic team.

What’s more impressive: coaching at one school more for than three decades, or posting a .794 winning percentage during that span?

The 47-game winning streak

The Wildcats won 47 straight from April 28, 1996 to March 22, 1997. That included a flawless run through the 1996 WCWS and a 30-0 start in 1997.

The streak was snapped by Oregon State midway through the 1997 season, only one of five losses that year. The Wildcats went on to capture their second straight national championship and fourth in five years, arguably the greatest stretch in college softball history.

There is a lot more parity in the sport these days, making it unlikely an Arizona team can reel off 47 straight wins again.

The program’s second longest winning streak is 34 games, which it has done three different times, though not since 2004. Arizona’s longest winning streak in the 2010s came in 2017 when the Wildcats won 26 in a row.

Alicia Hollowell’s career wins (144), strikeouts (1,728), innings (1,122), perfect games (4) and no-hitters (16)

Jennie Finch might be Arizona’s most recognizable pitcher (we’ll get to her in a second), but Alicia Hollowell, the ace of the 2006 national title team, is the most accomplished.

Here’s where she ranks on Arizona’s all-time leaderboards:

Innings pitched

1. Alicia Hollowell, 1,122
2. Taryne Mowatt, 877.2

Wins

1. Alicia Hollowell, 144
2. Nancy Evans, 124

Strikeouts

1. Alicia Hollowell, 1,728
2. Taryne Mowatt, 1,267

Perfect games

1. Alicia Hollowell, 4
2. Susie Parra, 2

Solo no-hitters

1. Alicia Hollowell, 16
2. Susie Parra/Jennie Finch, 8

Jennie Finch’s 60 consecutive pitching victories

Finch didn’t lose a start for almost two calendar years, going 60-0 from April 29, 2000 to April 6, 2002. That is 10 more wins than former Florida State pitcher Rebecca Asae, who once recorded 50 straight pitching victories, the second-most all-time.

Finch went a perfect 32-0 in 2001, leading the Wildcats to their sixth national championship. Her ERA that year? A career-best 0.54.

The 1992 team’s ERA (0.35)

Led by All-Americans Susie Parra and Debby Day, the Wildcats only allowed 35 runs in 65 games in 1992. Parra posted a program-record 0.30 ERA that season, while Day was just a hair above that at 0.38, the second-best mark in program history.

Arizona has had plenty of amazing pitching staffs over the years, but that team’s 0.35 ERA is almost half of that of the 1991 team, which had a 0.63 ERA, the second-best mark in program history.

Unfortunately, the 1992 season ended with the Wildcats losing to UCLA in the Women’s College World Series.

Taryne Mowatt’s single-season innings record (370)

Arizona rode Mowatt’s arm to a national championship in 2007, as she set Women’s College World Series records for innings pitched (60), victories (6), complete games (8) and strikeouts (76) while earning MVP honors.

That magical postseason run capped an incredible year for Mowatt, who won 42 games, fanned 522 batters and took home an ESPY for Best Female Athlete. Her 370 innings that season are roughly 70 more than any other Wildcat has pitched in a season.

With huge workloads being less and less common for pitchers these days, it’s hard to imagine any Arizona hurlers topping Mowatt’s inning total. The closest anyone has come in the last decade is Kenzie Fowler, who tossed 284.1 innings in 2010.

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