Taylor McQuillin returning to Arizona softball as graduate manager

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She’s back!

The Arizona Wildcats announced Wednesday that former ace Taylor McQuillin is returning to the softball program as a graduate manager.

McQuillin, who is receiving a Master’s in Educational Leadership, led the Wildcats to the Women’s College World Series as a senior in 2019 and has since played professionally in NPF and Athletes Unlimited. She also coached at Arkansas as a graduate manager in the shortened 2020 season.

McQuillin will represent Team Mexico in the 2021 Olympics once the college season concludes.

“Tucson has had a special place in my heart since the day I committed to the University of Arizona over eight years ago. I am so glad that my softball journey has found its way back to the field with Arizona Softball,” McQuillin said in a statement. “It hasn’t felt the same since I graduated, and getting this opportunity to be a part of this group has been nothing short of a dream come true.”

A four-time all-Pac-12 pitcher, McQuillin went 80-32 with a 1.95 ERA in four seasons with the Wildcats. She is top-10 in UA history in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.

In my experience, she’s one of the most insightful players I’ve ever interviewed and was always revered as a high-character person. Among other things, graduate managers typically help run practice and pregame warmups and serve as the first-base coach.

“We are very excited to have Taylor McQuillin back in our program as a Graduate Manager,” head coach Mike Candrea said in a statement. ”Taylor had a tremendous playing career as a pitcher during her time at Arizona and just completed a summer with Athletes Unlimited. She will be preparing herself to represent Team Mexico at the upcoming Olympic Games and we are very proud to have her back in Red and Blue for the upcoming year. We are always very excited to give former Wildcats a chance to attend graduate school. She will be replacing Mo Mercado who held that position for the past two years and we owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Mo and the great job she did for our program.”

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