TUCSON, Ariz. - Junior third baseman Katiyana Mauga hit three home runs and Arizona swept day-2 action at the Wildcat Invitational, taking care of Mount St. Mary's 16-5 in five innings before avenging Friday night's loss to BYU with a 6-3 victory.
Game 1 - #15 Arizona 16, Mount St. Mary's 5 (5 innings)
In a sloppy game that featured 12 combined errors, Arizona run-ruled Mount St. Mary's 16-5 to open its doubleheader on Friday evening at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Arizona plated nine unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning, leading the way to a 16-5 domination of the Mountaineers.
In all, Mount St. Mary's committed eight errors that led to 13 unearned Wildcat errors. Arizona's defense added four errors that brought in four Mount St. Mary's unearned runs.
Four different Wildcats recorded multiple hits. Lauren Young and Katiyana Mauga each drove in three runs in the contest. Mauga and Mandie Perez homered for Arizona.
Taylor McQuillin (4-2) earned the win for Arizona. The freshman went five innings and allowed five runs, one earned, on seven hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
Mount St. Mary's committed five errors in the first inning, leading to nine unearned runs in the bottom of the first, including a Mandie Perez two-run home run, her fourth of the season.
The Mountaineers answered with three runs in the next half inning thanks to a pair of Wildcat errors, who reciprocated after Mount St. Mary's sloppy half inning.
After Mount St. Mary's plated two additional unearned runs in the top of the third to cut Arizona's lead to 9-4, Arizona responded with seven runs over the next two innings to cement the five-inning victory.
Game 2 - #15 Arizona 6, BYU 3
Katiyana Mauga hit her sixth and seventh home runs of the season as Arizona defeated BYU 6-3 in its nightcap on Friday.
BYU's three runs were unearned as the Wildcat defense was charged three errors, marking the fifth time in the last nine games that Arizona has committed multiple errors after doing so just once in the first 10 games of the season.
Danielle O'Toole went the distance for her eighth win of the season as she allowed three runs, all unearned, on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks.
In addition to Mauga's two homer game, Tamara Statman also notched a couple of hits, including a clutch two-out, two-strike RBI single that broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the third. Arizona would go on to score the next five runs before BYU threatened to extend the game in the top of the seventh.
The first hit of the game of came in the bottom of the second inning when Katiyana Mauga hit her second homer of the day, an opposite field shot that put UA up 1-0.
BYU responded in the top of the third with a pair of hits and used an Arizona error to tie the game, 1-1.
In the bottom of the inning, Arizona had two on with two out for Tamara Statman who singled through the left side with two strikes to give Arizona the lead. The next batter, Nancy Bowling, followed with a pop up that was dropped by the BYU left fielder to allow to UA runs to score and give Arizona a 4-1 lead.
Mauga's two-run homer in the fifth gave Arizona a 6-1 lead.
That lead stood until the seventh, when BYU plated a pair of unearned runs thanks to a pair of Arizona errors and brought the tying run to the plate before O'Toole got out of trouble for the victory.
Up Next: The Wildcat Invitational continues with five games on Saturday. Arizona plays at 4 and 6 p.m. vs. Saint Francis and UTEP, respectively.
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