WEEKLY NOTES
 

THIS WEEK: It's No. 5 vs. No. 6 this weekend at Hillenbrand Stadium as the fifth-ranked Wildcats (29-1, 3-0 Pac-12) host sixth-ranked Washington (24-3, 3-0 Pac-12) in UA's Pac-12 home-opening series at Hillenbrand Stadium, this Friday-Sunday on the Pac-12 Networks. Something has to give this weekend as both teams enter the series on double-digit win streaks; Arizona has won 14 straight while the Huskies are winners of 10 in-a-row. It's two of the nation's best offenses vs. two of the nation's best pitching staffs with two of the nation's best defenses behind them. The teams meet Friday (5 p.m.), Saturday (12 p.m.) and Sunday (12 p.m.) in the first three of 20 televised games for Arizona this season.
 
CATS AT A GLANCE

• Arizona is off to its best 30-game start (29-1) since 2004 and ranked No. 5 in the country, its highest ranking at least six weeks into any season since 2010.
• Through 30 games this season, the Wildcats are outscoring their opponents 240-32. Their offense has hit more home runs (NCAA-most 44) than their opponents have total runs (32). UA has over 100 more hits (272) than its opponent has total bases (160).
• Head coach Mike Candrea is three wins away from his 1,500th win at Arizona. Candrea, who is 1,497-380-2 (.797) is the sport's Division I wins leader and trails only Michigan's Carol Hutchins (1,502 wins) in NCAA history. Candrea's 1,497 victories have occurred over 30 years of coaching while Hutchins is in her 36th year (including a season in a lower NCAA division).
• UA leads the Pac-12 in slugging percentage (.578), runs scored (240), hits (272), RBI (207), doubles (47), home runs (44), walks (137), ERA (0.95), opposing batting average (.166) and strikeouts (231).
• Arizona has not allowed more than four runs in a game this season. The Wildcats are second in the nation with a 0.95 team ERA. Meanwhile, the UA offense is scoring 8.00 runs per game, second best nationally.
• Jessie Harper has been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week in back-to-back weeks as well as Pac-12 Player of the Week this week. During Arizona's two-week roadtrip, Harper went 18-for-34 (.529) with five doubles, five homers and a 1.177 slugging percentage.
• In her first start of the season, Michelle Floyd threw the ninth perfect game in Arizona history, retiring all 15 Hartford batters she faced in an 18-0, five-inning Wildcat victory on March 11. She was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week.
• Through six weeks, Arizona has earned eight of the 18 Pac-12 weekly awards (Player, Pitcher and Freshman), by six different players. Arizona has had three Pac-12 Players of the Week (Katiyana Mauga – 1, Mo Mercado – 3, Jessie Harper – 6), two Pac-12 Pitchers of the Week (Danielle O'Toole – 3, Michelle Floyd – 5) and three Pac-12 Freshmen of the Week (Dejah Mulipola – 2, Jessie Harper – 5, Jessie Harper – 6).
• Katiyana Mauga's career home run chase is off to good start. The senior has 10 homers in 30 games, tied for eighth in the NCAA, giving her 77 career homers, 10 shy of Stacie Chambers and the Arizona record and 18 shy of Oklahoma's Lauren Chamberlain and the NCAA record.
• Danielle O'Toole is 14-1 with a 0.79 ERA in 97.1 innings. She leads the Pac-12 in strikeouts (109) and is tied for the conference lead in wins. Her 0.79 ERA is third in the conference, but best among pitchers with at least 50.0 innings pitched.
• Arizona is one of three Pac-12 teams in the top six in this week's NFCA poll, and one of six league teams overall. The Wildcats, who were picked second in the conference's preseason coaches poll, are one of four teams to sweep the opening weekend of Pac-12 play.
• Arizona has scored 64 runs in the first inning this season. Its opponents have scored exactly half that, 32, total.
• Arizona's freshmen have more combined home runs (25) than 261 Division I teams.
• Two Wildcats (Dejah Mulipola - 34, Mandie Perez - 36) have scored more runs individually than UA's opponents combined (32).

 
ARIZONA vs. WASHINGTON: Arizona is 65-31 all-time vs. Washington, but the Huskies won the series in 2016 in Seattle, 2-1(full recap on page 5). Neither Arizona nor Washington has swept the three-game series since 2010.
 
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: Sixth-ranked Washington (24-3, 3-0 Pac-12) swept No. 21 Arizona State in Seattle to open up Pac-12 play ... Washington is No. 1 in the first NCAA RPI, a product of a difficult schedule for the Huskies thus far; UW owns nonconference victories over No. 4 Auburn, No. 8 Minnesota (twice) and No. 13 Oklahoma ... Washington is top three in every major offensive category in the Pac-12 as well as the conference's best fielding team (.979 fielding percentage) ... Sis Bates (.430 avg, 6 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 20 RBI) leads the offense, which features four starters with averages north of .370 ... Samantha Manti (5-0, 1.15 ERA, 33 K, 36.2 IP, .187 b/avg) and Taran Alvelo (14-1, 1.89 ERA, 89 K, 88.2 IP) form a very good 1-2 punch for a pitching staff that has shut down top offenses.
 
WHO'S HOT?

• Jessie Harper: During Arizona's 11-game roadtrip over the last two weeks, Harper went 18-for-her-last-34 (.529) with five doubles, five homers and a 1.177 slugging percentage. She was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week both weeks and Pac-12 Player of the Week this week for her performance in Corvallis, including a two-homer game in game 3 to help the Cats sweep the series.
• Mandie Perez: After going the first 24 games of 2017 without a home run, Perez has four in UA's last six games. Over the last 10 games, Perez is hitting .438 with a team-high 12 RBI and 13 runs scored and the aforementioned four bombs.
• Ashleigh Hughes: Hughes has at least one hit in 10 of Arizona's last 11 games, including an active six-game hitting streak. The junior is hitting .464 in that span, including her first home run of the season. In game 3 vs. Oregon State, Hughes made a game-saving catch in the bottom of the seventh inning in deep right center field to rob the Beavers of a walkoff win and then drove in the eventual game-winning run in the top of the eighth.
• Taylor McQuillin: A rough three-batter stretch in which McQuillin allowed a three-run homer with two out in the bottom of the seventh to tie game 3 of the Oregon State series ended a stretch of 30.2 consecutive innings without an earned run for McQuillin. Still, the sophomore has been brilliant recently. She has struck out 11 or more batters in each of her last three starts and has allowed just one earned run over her last five starts, dating back to March 4 vs. Texas.
• Michelle Floyd: In her first start of the season, Floyd threw a perfect game against Hartford (3/11). She struck out six Hawk batters in the ninth perfect game in Arizona history. Floyd, who has not allowed an earned run this season, was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week.

 
THE KATI WATCH IS ON: Though Katiyana Mauga's focus remains on OKC, her chase for history is on. How many #MaugaBombs can she hit? A complete breakdown of where she stands in the UA, Pac-12 and NCAA record books can be found on page 12. Here are some notes:

• Mauga has hit 77 career home runs in 205 games played. That's 10 shy of Arizona's record (87 - Stacie Chambers, 08-11), 13 shy of the Pac-12 record (90 - Stacey Nuveman, UCLA, 97-02) and 18 shy of the NCAA record (95 - Lauren Chamberlain, Oklahoma, 12-15).
• The senior is tied for eighth in the NCAA with 10 home runs this season.
• With 20 homers as a freshman, 26 as a sophomore and 21 as a junior, Mauga is the only player in NCAA history to hit 20 home runs in each of her first three years.
• Mauga's 77 career homers lead all active hitters in the NCAA by a wide margin. Only one other player has more than 55.

 
RAISE THE A: Arizona started a new tradition in 2016 -- raising the "A" flag in Candrea's Corner, the left field bleachers, after home victories. The flagpole may get a workout, considering Arizona's 677-86 (.887) record all-time at Hillenbrand Stadium. Arizona has won 15 straight games at Hillenbrand Stadium.
 
RED, WHITE AND BLUE TAKES ON A DIFFERENT MEANING: Arizona's long-standing tradition with USA Softball will continue this summer. Senior Danielle O'Toole was named the U.S. Women's National Team while freshmen Jessie Harper and Dejah Mulipola were named to the U.S. Junior Women's National Training Team following a selection camp in January. Arizona's ties to USA Softball run deep, most memorably as skipper Mike Candrea served as the head coach for Team USA's 2004 (gold medal) and 2008 (silver medal) teams. In 2016, a pair of Wildcats received the Association's highest honors as Kellie Fox (2014-15) was named USA Softball Athlete of the Year and redshirt freshman Alyssa Palomino was named USA Softball Junior Athlete of the Year.
 
CIRCLE IT: After a five-year span in the circle in which Arizona put up a combined ERA north of 3.50 from 2011-15, pitching has returned as Arizona's strength the last two years, coinciding with the arrival of Danielle O'Toole and Taylor McQuillin in 2016. After Arizona finished second in the Pac-12 in ERA last year (2.67), the pitching staff put up a combined 0.95 ERA 30 games into 2017.
 
SENIOR SALUTE: Arizona eight-player senior class is its largest since the eight seniors in 2001 went out on top, winning the program's sixth NCAA title. In 2017, UA will bid adieu to eight players who have been invaluable to the program. All eight have either been full or part time starters during their time. The octet includes four all-Pac-12 first or second teamers and has played a combined 2,053 games at Arizona, combined for 770 hits, 139 home runs, 553 RBI, 775.0 IP, 708 strikeouts and 84 pitching victories. Here are some notes on each senior's career contributions:

• Nancy Bowling: A 37-game starter in her career in the circle, plus 32 games at first base. Has not lost a pitching decision since her freshman year (16-0 from sophomore year on).
• Alexis Dotson: A 79-game starter since transferring from local Pima College after her sophomore year. Owns a career .314 average and has scored 47 runs.
• Michelle Floyd: Arizona's ace in 2015, a season in which she tallied the most innings pitched (183.2), wins (19) and strikeouts (135) while helping lead Arizona to a 41-win season and a super regional appearance. Threw the ninth perfect game in Arizona history in 2017.
• Katiyana Mauga: On pace to leave Arizona as the school's all-time leader in home runs. Has put up single-season home run totals that rank in UA's top-20 in each of her previous three years.
• Mo Mercado: Has started every game (212) of her Arizona career and has put up a .360 average in 642 career at-bats, the most among active Wildcats. Three-time all-region performer.
• Danielle O'Toole: Led the Pac-12 in wins in her first season at Arizona (26) while becoming Arizona's first, first-team all-Pac-12 pitcher since 2010.
• Mandie Perez: A 196-game starter who was named first-team all-conference as a redshirt junior in 2016. Owns a career .336 average and a stellar .432 on-base percentage.
• Eva Watson: Has battled injuries, but led Arizona in batting average in 2016 (.387). Has appeared in 156 games in her career, including 68 starts.

 
OVER THE HILL: Arizona has appeared in every NCAA Tournament since 1988, Mike Candrea's second year on campus. That's 30 consecutive years in the tournament for Arizona. Not only is that the longest active streak, but it is seven years longer than the second longest streak. If Arizona makes the NCAA Tournament in 2017, it will be the longest streak in NCAA softball history, breaking Fresno State's inactive 30-year streak.
 
BEATING THE BEST: Since 1994, Arizona is above .500 against ranked teams, top-10 teams and top-five competition. UA is 546-244-1 (.700) against ranked competition, 257-162 (.624) against top-10 teams and 128-111 (.549) against top-five teams.
 
HIGH EXPECTATIONS: Arizona was ranked No. 10 in the Preseason NFCA Top 25, its highest preseason ranking since 2012, and picked to finish second in the Pac-12 by the coaches prior to the season, its highest since 2011. Why?

• Arizona returned eight starters, four pitchers and 16 total letterwinners from a 40-win team in 2016. In all, the Cats return 90% of their hits (420-of-465), 91% of their home runs (61-of-67) and 90% of their RBI (268-of-298). Additionally, all four pitchers return from a staff that was second in the Pac-12 in ERA.
• The Wildcats' senior class of eight is its largest in 16 years, when the eight seniors in 2001 went out by winning national championship.
• Those seniors will play a key role in mentoring Arizona's seven-player freshman class. The six true freshmen -- Dejah Mulipola (No. 5 recruit, FloSoftball), Reyna Carranco (No. 16), Jessie Harper (No. 43), Malia Martinez (No. 57), Carli Campbell and Jaycee Lindley -- were rated as the No. 3 recruiting class in the country. Add in redshirt freshman Alyssa Palomino, the 2016 USA Softball Junior Athlete of the Year who missed last season with a torn ACL, and the Wildcats have plenty of fresh talent to go with their experienced core.

 
FOLLOW THE TEAM: Be sure to follow the Wildcats on their various social media platforms. To stay up-to-date on all the latest happenings with the team, follow Arizona softball on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@UA_Softball).