The Arizona Wildcats face the Utah Utes in a crucial series at Dumke Family Softball Stadium. A sweep by Arizona secures them second place in the Big 12 standings, while Utah fights to stay in the top eight for the conference tournament.
Key points
Arizona Wildcats face Utah Utes in a crucial series
A sweep by Arizona secures second place in Big 12 standings
Utah is fighting to stay in the top eight for the tournament
The series is held at Dumke Family Softball Stadium
Arizona controls its own destiny in the standings
Mentioned in this story
Dumke Family Softball Stadium
Arizona WildcatsUtah UtesBig 12
The end of the regular season is upon the college softball world. Thereâs still a lot to be determined for most of the Big 12. The Utah Utes and No. 19 Arizona Wildcats will determine it at Dumke Family Softball Stadium in Salt Lake City.
Arizona controls its own destiny as far as where it will end up in the Big 12 standings. If the Wildcats sweep the Utes, they will finish second. That means avoiding top seed Texas Tech until the finals of the Big 12 Softball Tournament next week. If they drop even one game, several other teams could overtake them.
The Utes are currently seventh in the league standings, mere thousandths of percentage points behind sixth-place Arizona State in winning percentage after the Sun Devils defeated BYU on Thursday. They are desperately trying to stay within the top eight to maintain their place in the conference tournament field.
How do Arizona and Utah match up in their pursuits of seeds or, in the case of the Ute, inclusion in the tournament?
Records and strengths of schedule
The Wildcats finished their nonconference slate 19-7 with nine out-of-conference games against teams in the top 25 of RPI. Six of the nine games were played on the road or neutral fields. They went 3-6 in those games, including taking a road game against Stanford and another road game against LSU. The other win was a home win over Oklahoma.
Overall, they are 34-13 heading into the final regular season series of the year. In addition to their nine nonconference games against the top 25 of RPI, they had nine more in conference play. They went 4-5 in those games for an overall record of 7-11 against the RPI top 25.
Once again, most of those games were away from Hillenbrand. Six of the nine top 25 games against conference opponents were played in Lubbock, Tex. and Stillwater, Okla. The Wildcats went 2-4 in those road games. Twelve of their 18 games against the RPI top 25 were on the road or neutral fields.
Utahâs nonconference schedule included just one game against the RPI top 25. That was an 11-0 loss in five innings to UCLA at the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, Calif.
Q&A
What are the implications of Arizona sweeping Utah in softball?
If Arizona sweeps Utah, they will finish second in the Big 12 standings, avoiding top seed Texas Tech until the finals of the tournament.
How does Utah's current standing affect their chances in the Big 12 tournament?
Utah is currently seventh in the league and needs to stay in the top eight to qualify for the conference tournament.
Where is the Arizona vs. Utah softball series being held?
The series is taking place at Dumke Family Softball Stadium in Salt Lake City.
What does Arizona need to do to secure a favorable position in the Big 12 standings?
Arizona must sweep the Utes to secure a second-place finish in the Big 12 standings.
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The Utes are 33-18-1 heading into the final week of the regular season. The tie came against UCF in a game that was called after nine innings so Utah could make its plane back home. It ended with a score of 2-2.
In addition to their game against the Bruins, the Utes have had 12 games against the RPI top 25 in conference play for a total of 13 this season. In Big 12 play, they went 4-7-1 with a sweep of ASU and a 1-2 series loss to Texas Tech. The games were evenly split between home and away during league play. They were 3-2-1 on the road, including the road sweep of ASU and the tie against UCF.
Overall, that gave Utah a 4-8-1 record against the top 25 of RPI with seven of the 13 games coming on the road or neutral fields.
Pitching
Utah is ranked second in the Big 12 in staff ERA (2.73) for the entire season, but they fall to sixth (4.48) when only league games are considered. The Utesâ staff threw 333.1 innings in 52 games overall. They worked 134.1 innings in Big 12 play.
Both overall and conference stats are better than Arizona. Although nonconference strength of schedule certainly plays into overall stats, that isnât relevant in Big 12 play since Utah had a more difficult conference schedule based on league standings and RPI.
The Wildcats are eighth in the rankings both overall and in conference play. Overall, the UA staff has a 4.59 ERA in 280.1 innings pitched across 47 games. That jumps to 5.69 in 124.1 innings against Big 12 opponents.
Across the entire season, Utah had a 1.35 staff WHIP compared to Arizonaâs 1.68. That jumped to 1.74 in conference play for the Utes and 1.83 for the Wildcats.
Utah pitchers allowed 1.15 home runs per 7 innings in conference games and 0.67 per 7 innings across the entire season. Arizona gave up 1.80 home runs per 7 IP in Big 12 play and 1.35 HR/7 IP across the season.
Only BYU (33) and Houston (69) gave up more home runs in league play than UA despite Arizona pitching the fewest innings in the Big 12 due to the number of run-rule wins (9) and losses (3) on its schedule. Iowa State is tied with Arizona at 32, although the Cyclones have pitched five more innings than the Wildcats in conference play.
The Wildcatsâ pitchers werenât as bad when it came to the other primary extra-base hit. They gave up the third fewest doubles in the Big 12 with 24 overall during conference play. That worked out to 1.35 doubles per 7 IP. Overall, the Wildcats surrendered 47 doubles, good for fourth-best in the league. That totaled 1.17 per 7 IP.
The Utes gave up the most doubles in the league with 38 against league opponents. That equals 1.98 per 7 IP. They gave up the second-most across the entire season with 66, equaling 1.39 per 7 IP.
Utahâs pitchers are also prone to giving up the least common extra-base hits. They gave up a league worst 10 triples over the entire season compared to just three for Arizona. Three of those triples came in Big 12 play while Arizona didnât surrender any to the other members of the conference.
Batting
With pitching lagging in the bottom half of the Big 12, Arizona relies heavily on its offense to win games. It has scored eight or more runs in 28 of its 34 wins. It has only won twice when scoring fewer than six runs.
While the overall stats look like theyâre down for the Wildcats this year, a closer look tells a different story.
Despite having fewer players getting extra-base hits this year, those who are hitting them are getting more per opponentsâ 7 IP than last year. Arizona is hitting 1.64 home runs per 7 innings this season. Last year, that number was 1.57. The Wildcats hit 1.40 doubles per 7 innings last season. That has jumped to 1.64 this year.
Speed on the basepaths has also increased this year. Stolen bases sit at 0.93 per 7 innings this season. Thatâs an increase from 0.84 last season. Last year, the Wildcats had an 83 percent success rate when they attempted to steal a base. So far this year, thatâs jumped to 92 percent.
Those improvements play into the Wildcatsâ offensive advantage over the Utes. Arizona has actually improved its batting average in league play, going from second overall (.355) to first against Big 12 opponents (.381) with a jump of .026 in conference play. Utah is eighth overall (.303) and ninth in league play (.265).
The Wildcats are third in doubles during Big 12 play with 33 despite 38 percent of its games being truncated by the run rule. Three more of its home games did not require final at-bats because Arizona led after the top of the seventh.
Only 12 of Arizonaâs 21 conference games have been regulation length in 2026. One lasted 10 innings. Six ended after five and two more went six innings.
The Utes are ranked 11th in the league with just 19 doubles in league play. Its deficit in extra-base hits doesnât end there, either.
Arizona is fourth with 32 home runs in conference play compared to Utah at 10th with 16. Arizona has three triples in league play to Utahâs two. In all, that comes to 68 extra-base hits for 203 total bases for the Wildcats. The Utes have 37 extra-base hits that have gone for 108 total bases.
Overall, Arizona has a league-leading 212 hits in Big 12 competition. Utah has 141, which ranks 10th of 11 teams.
The Wildcats are second in the conference with 180 runs scored off those hits, trailing Texas Tech by just six runs. Utah is ranked last with 92 runs scored in conference play.
Fielding
Arizonaâs fielding percentage isnât one of its best this season. In conference play, the Wildcats are fielding.968. Overall, theyâre at .972. That may not be the best in program history, but itâs still good for this yearâs Big 12.
Arizona is ranked second in fielding percentage in league play. The .972 overall fielding percentage is listed fourth.
Utah trails the Wildcats both in league play and overall. The Utesâ .962 league fielding percentage ranks ninth. Overall, they are at .955, which comes in last.
The Wildcats lead the league with their program-record 40 double plays this season. Fourteen of those have come against conference opponents. That also ranks first this year.
Despite their overall fielding issues, Utah has been fairly effective at the twin-killers, too. Overall, the Utes have 28 double plays, second only to Arizona. They have turned 11 of those in Big 12 play. While thatâs only three fewer than the Wildcats have turned, itâs listed as fifth in the Big 12 due to several ties.
