Arizona
Arizona softball’s 2025 nonconference schedule has a Pac-12 flavor
Looking for a tough nonconference schedule? Have some Pac-12 nostalgia? Arizona softball has it covered.
The Wildcats released their full schedule on Thursday morning, adding the nonconference slate to the previously released Big 12 schedule. It has something to please everyone.
Arizona will keep rivalries with former Pac-12 opponents Washington, Stanford, and UCLA. They will bring Alabama and Texas to Tucson and play home and away against Cal State Fullerton. In total, the Wildcats will play 12 teams that made the NCAA tournament last season and appear in 32 games at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Things kick off with the Candrea Classic at Hillenbrand Stadium from Feb. 6-9, 2025. First on the slate is a doubleheader against Michigan State on Thursday, Feb. 6. The Spartans finished 21-30 overall last year and went 7-16 in the Big Ten but had a five-game winning streak to end the season.
That game heads straight into the land of the Pac-12 with the first of two games against the Washington Huskies on Friday, Feb. 7. It’s the first game of a Friday night doubleheader with the second game against Western Michigan. The Wildcats will play UW a second time on Sunday, Feb. 9.
The Huskies went 32-10 overall last season. They were 13-10 in their final Pac-12 season. They beat Arizona 2-1 in their series in Tucson. Their season ended in the Columbia Regional with a loss to Missouri. They went 1-2 in the postseason.
Saturday, Feb. 8 will feature Alabama. The Crimson Tide were 39-20 last year. They went 10-14 in the SEC. They advanced to the Women’s College World Series, going 1-2 and bowing out to Florida. They defeated Arizona twice during the regular season in Tuscaloosa.
Arizona hosts the Bear Down Fiesta the weekend of Feb. 13-16. The Wildcats will play South Alabama on Thursday, Feb. 13 and again on Friday, Feb. 14. They face Fullerton on Feb. 14 and Sunday, Feb. 16. Ohio is on the slate on Saturday, Feb. 15.
Arizona played South Alabama in Tuscaloosa last year. The game ended in a 1-1 tie after 11 innings due to the “drop dead time.” The Jaguars ended their year 34-20-1 overall and 16-8 in the Sun Belt Conference. They went 2-2 at the Gainesville Regional, losing twice to host team Florida.
Fullerton was 39-19 overall in 2024. The Titans ended Big West play 22-5. They went 3-2 at the Stanford Regional, beating the host Cardinal and ranked Mississippi State once each.
The Ohio Bobcats were 31-24 last season. They finished 18-8 in the MAC. Their season ended with a loss to Ball State in the MAC Tournament.
The Wildcats stay home for the third week in a row to host the Hillenbrand Invitational from Feb. 20-23. The featured teams this weekend are Stanford and Texas, with the Cardinal playing UA twice.
Things start on Thursday, Feb. 20 with the Cardinal. The two teams will face off again on Sunday, Feb. 23.
Stanford will be a different team this season without NiJaree Canaday, whom Arizona will face in Big 12 play against Texas Tech. However, the Cardinal have advanced to the WCWS the last two seasons. They went 57-17 in 2024, finishing 17-7 in their last Pac-12 season.
The Cardinal went 2-1 against Arizona in Tucson last season. They went 2-2 in Oklahoma City, losing 1-0 to national runner-up Texas in their final game.
In between the two games against Stanford, the Wildcats will play UC Davis twice, once on Feb. 20 and once on Feb. 21. The game against the Aggies on Friday will be followed by a game against Colorado State. Saturday, Feb. 22 will feature Texas.
The Aggies were 21-29 overall and 12-15 in the Big West. The Rams went 26-21 overall and 9-12 in the Mountain West.
Texas was ranked No. 1 for a good chunk of 2024. The Longhorns went 55-10 overall and 23-4 in their final Big 12 season. They went 3-2 in Oklahoma City, losing the championship series to Oklahoma in two straight games.
The Wildcats play their first road game in a one-off at Loyola Marymount on Wednesday, Feb. 26. LMU was 28-25 last season. The Lions finished 9-7 in the WCC.
The trip to Southern California continues on the return games at Cal State Fullerton from Feb. 28-Mar. 2. The Wildcats face the Wildcats of Weber State first on Friday, Feb. 28. They play the host Titans immediately following in a doubleheader.
Weber State finished 22-28 overall and 8-7 in the Big Sky in 2024.
Saturday, Mar. 1 features another doubleheader. First up is Notre Dame. Longtime rival UCLA follows.
The Bruins were 43-12 last year. Their last year in the Pac-12 ended with a 17-4 record. They won the series against Arizona 2-1 in Los Angeles. They then defeated Arizona by the score of 6-5 in the Pac-12 Tournament. They went 1-2 in Oklahoma City, losing back-to-back against Oklahoma and Stanford.
Things wrap up on Mar. 2 against San Diego State. The Aztecs finished 31-20 overall and 15-7 in the MWC last season. They went 0-2 in the Los Angeles Regional, losing to Virginia Tech and GCU.
Arizona returns home to start Big 12 play against UCF on Friday, Mar. 7, but they will play another one-off nonconference game against Utah State on Monday, Mar. 10. The Aggies were 22-28 last year and 5-17 in the MWC.
A Big 12 home series against Utah will be followed by a road game at GCU on Wednesday, Mar. 19. The Lopes had a 50-13 finish overall last season. They were 23-3 in the WAC. They lost 3-2 at Arizona on Apr. 30, 2024.
GCU went 2-2 at the Los Angeles Regional, a run that included defeating 17th-ranked Virginia Tech to advance to the regional final.
The next five weekends find the Wildcats facing Big 12 foes Arizona State, BYU, Oklahoma State, Kansas, and Texas Tech before another nonconference doubleheader.
The New Mexico State Aggies come to Tucson for a doubleheader on Tuesday, Apr. 22. The Aggies were 30-25 last year. They went 13-11 in Conference USA. Arizona defeated them twice in Las Cruces.
The Wildcats return to Southern California for two more games against San Diego State to complete their Big 12 bye week. The games will be held on Friday, Apr. 25 and Saturday, Apr. 26.
Arizona finishes the Big 12 regular season at Houston from May 2-4 before heading to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Tournament May 7-10.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — Santa Claus traded his sleigh for small planes Wednesday as 20 volunteer pilots from Angel Flight West’s Utah wing flew hundreds of miles to deliver Christmas gifts and school supplies to two Title I schools on the Utah-Arizona border.
The annual “Santa Flight” brought toys, winter coats, backpacks and more than 500 books donated by PBS Utah to about 500 students from Water Canyon Elementary in Hildale, Utah, and Cottonwood Elementary in Colorado City, Arizona. The schools gathered at the Colorado City airport to greet Santa, Mrs. Claus, some elves and the pilots.
“Well, this is just excitement,” said Brad Jolley, principal at Water Canyon Elementary in Hildale. “I mean, you look at the faces of the kids, you see smiles, and just a great opportunity, great atmosphere.”
“This is the first time that our two schools in our valley have come together and done an activity,” said Natalie Hammon, principal at Cottonwood Elementary in Colorado City. “So Santa Flight has really helped us unite our valley and let our two schools work together for a great cause.”
The donations were made possible by community groups and sponsors, including the John C. Kish Foundation, Bank of Utah and the Leavitt Group. Lou Rossi, Utah Wing leader for Angel Flight West, said the effort reflects the generosity of pilots and donors during a tough economic time.
Angel Flight West is best known for providing free air transportation for patients traveling long distances for medical care. Volunteer pilot Steve Booth said the holiday mission is just one way to give back.
“For somebody that might need a four- or five-hour car ride after a cancer treatment, a 45 (-minute) or one-hour flight just makes a huge, huge difference in their life,” Booth said.
The Santa Flight tradition began in 2000 and rotates among rural schools each year.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
ASU coach Bobby Hurley talks about how his team played improved defense
Bobby Hurley said some tough practices produced better defense in win over Oklahoma
The Arizona State Sun Devils were looking to improve on the win they chalked up three days ago against Oklahoma. They did, sort of.
ASU added a 73-48 win over visiting Northern Arizona on Dec. 9 at Desert Financial Arena for its fifth win in the last six outings.
Defense has been the team’s focus in the last two weeks, and that showed as the Sun Devils (8-2) held their opponent to a season-low point total. Coach Bobby Hurley said the team’s goal was to hold the Lumberjacks (4-5) to under 49 points. Mission accomplished there.
ASU shot 50% 26-for-52) for the game, with an even split, 15-for-30 in the first and 11-for-22 in the second half. NAU shot 33.3% (17-for-51), which included a 5-for-26 from long distance.
What went right
Got scoring punch from the bench: ASU is 8-0 when getting more points from its bench than the opponent, and 0-2 when it does not. In this one, it wasn’t even close as the Sun Devils had a significant advantage here, 33-3. Allen Mukeba had 10, Anthony “Pig” Johnson nine, and Marcus Adams 8.
Rebounded better: This is an area where the Sun Devils have made noticeable strides in the last two games, and this was an opponent ASU should have bested on the board because it was one of the few where they have had a size advantage. The Sun Devils won the battle 41-15, with a 10-4 edge on the offensive glass and a 31-21 advantage on the defensive boards. Santiago Trout had eight, with Mukeba, Andrija Grbovic, and Massamba Diop each collecting six.
Used inside presence: The 7-0 freshman Diop had a career-high 19 points on an 8-for-10 showing from the field. Hurley said his team didn’t go to him enough
What went wrong
A few too many turnovers: ASU had 13, which is too many against a .500 foe. NAU had 10 steals, and it wasn’t exactly pressuring the ball. It was the area in which Hurley was most disappointed. Diop had four. The Sun Devils were fortunate NAU only manufactured 12 points off those turnovers. NAU also had 13 turnovers, and ASU scored 23 points off those.
A bit sluggish in the first half: ASU ended the first half up 35-26. It was up 11-2, then faltered a bit, and the Lumberjacks actually went ahead 14-13 with 10:40 left in the half.
Personnel notes
ASU has used the same starting lineup for all 10 games this season. A total of 10 athletes entered the game and all of them scored. The last person to score was Moe Odum, who came in averaging 18.9 points per game. His only two points came at the line with 30 seconds left.
Up next
The Sun Devils are back on the road for another neutral site game, the fifth of the season. ASU will square off with Santa Clara (8-2) in the Jack Jones Hoop Hall Classic at 5 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada. ASU is 3-1 in neutral-site games while the Broncos are 1-1.
The teams played last season with ASU prevailing 81-74.
Diamondbacks’ Mike Hazen addresses Ketel Marte trade rumors
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The Diamondbacks have hired executive Jeremy Bleich away from the Pittsburgh Pirates in an assistant general manager role, sources said this week. Bleich will oversee the organization’s pitching development.
It is the latest change the Diamondbacks have made in hopes of revamping their pitching infrastructure, which has lagged behind the industry for years.
General manager Mike Hazen said last month the club was likely to push its pitchers harder from a strength and conditioning standpoint in hopes of generating more big-league-caliber arms.
Bleich had been the Pirates’ director of pitching development. That organization has done well developing pitching — both starters and relievers — in recent years. This past season, the Pirates posted the third-best ERA (3.76) in the National League with a staff that included several homegrown arms.
Bleich, 38, pitched parts of 11 seasons in professional baseball. He was drafted 44th overall out of Stanford by the New York Yankees in 2008. He made two appearances in the majors with the Oakland Athletics in 2018.
Bleich is the first high-ranking external addition the Diamondbacks have made to their front office in years.
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