Arizona

Arizona picked 3rd in Big 12 preseason softball poll

Published

11 months ago

January 24, 2025

Arizona picked 3rd in Big 12 preseason softball poll

The Big 12 coaches are high on the Arizona Wildcats. The conference released its preseason poll on Friday with UA projected to finish third in a strong league. Outfielders Dakota Kennedy and Regan Shockey were selected to the preseason all-conference team.

The Wildcats were picked to finish behind Oklahoma State and Texas Tech in the new 11-team league. Arizona finished 37-18-1 last year and advanced to the Stillwater Super Regional where new conference mate OSU swept the Wildcats out of the postseason.

Arizona lost just one player to the transfer portal while bringing in Softball America’s 10th-ranked class. The group of five players gave the Wildcats the highest-ranked Big 12 class this season. Three of the five were rated as four-star prospects by SA. The Wildcats also added former Washington C/UT Sydney Stewart, former Oregon State infielder Kiki Escobar, and former Iowa State pitcher Saya Swain from the transfer portal.

Oklahoma State advanced to the Women’s College World Series last year then reloaded with another big haul in the transfer portal. Arizona is very familiar with one of the biggest names, former Washington pitcher Ruby Meylan.

Texas Tech looked to be in trouble when former head coach Craig Snider left for an assistant coaching position at Tennessee. It appeared to be a major blow after a promising year, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

The Red Raiders made a huge hire by taking former Louisiana-Lafayette leader Gerry Glasco. Glasco brought some talent with him, but a huge assist from a donor helped him pull off the biggest coup of the off-season.

NiJaree Canady was lured away from Stanford after taking the Cardinal deep into the WCWS the past two years. The pitcher’s price came to over $1 million, according to published reports. Her signing took the Red Raiders from a team with the potential to make incremental improvements to one that has designs on a conference title and a trip to the WCWS.

The coaches’ votes indicate a large chasm between the top four teams and the rest of the league. The point totals after Baylor take a steep drop. There is another big gap after the seventh-ranked squad, and the last two teams trail the rest of the league by a considerable margin.

Oklahoma State Cowgirls (99 points, 9 first-place votes)
Texas Tech Red Raiders (90 points, 2 first-place votes)
Arizona Wildcats (81 points)
Baylor Bears (75 points)
BYU Cougars (54 points)
Utah Utes (52 points)
UCF Knights (51 points)
Arizona State Sun Devils (36 points)
Kansas Jayhawks (34 points)
Iowa State Cyclones (23 points)
Houston Cougars (10 points)

The preseason All-Big 12 team is dominated by Cowgirls. Six Oklahoma State players were honored.

Arizona was one of four teams with two players named to the team. The Wildcats were the only squad in the league whose selections were all unanimous picks by the coaches. Shockey was one of just two underclassmen to make the team.

In addition to Shockey and Kennedy, Baylor senior infielder Shaylon Govan, BYU junior Lily Owens, and TTU junior RHP Canady were voted to the team by all 11 coaches. The other selections were graduate outfielder Kelsey Hall (ASU), senior catcher/infielder Turiya Coleman (Baylor), senior outfielder Angelina Allen (ISU), senior pitcher/utility Katie Brooks (KU), outfielder Presley Limbaugh (KU), junior pitcher RyLee Crandall (OSU), graduate outfielder Megan Delgadillo (OSU), junior utility Tallen Edwards (OSU), sophomore infielder Karli Godwin (OSU), junior RPH Meylan (OSU), junior outfielder Claire Timm (OSU), junior outfielder Mihyia Davis (TTU), and senior outfielder Kaylah Nelsen (Utah).

Source link

Related Topics:arizona big desert Featured front page in picked Poll preseason R&D softball swarm

Click to comment

Arizona

5 big Powerball lotto prizes won across Arizona days before Christmas

Published

12 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

5 big Powerball lotto prizes won across Arizona days before Christmas

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Five more lucky lotto players are heading into the holidays with a little extra cash in their pockets.

According to state lottery officials, the big winning tickets were sold around Arizona, each worth $50,000.

The tickets were sold at:

Goldfield Chevron
- 3265 S. Goldfield Rd, Apache Junction, AZ
Circle K
- 2088 W. Orange Grove Rd, Tucson, AZ
QuikTrip
- 918 E. Baseline Rd, Tempe, AZ
Desert Springs Travel Center
- 4031 Fleet St., Littlefield, AZ
Terrible’s
- 19985 N. Hwy 93, White Hills, AZ

The winning numbers from Monday’s drawing were 3, 18, 36, 41, 54 and Powerball 7. Nine $1 million tickets were sold nationwide.

The jackpot remains unclaimed and is estimated at $1.7 billion — the fourth largest ever — with the next drawing set for Christmas Eve.

Powerball tickets cost $2 per play, with odds of winning the jackpot sitting at 1 in 292.2 million, according to the lottery.

More information on games and prizes can be found on the Arizona Lottery website.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Source link

Arizona

No. 1 Arizona wraps up Bethune Cookman 107-71

Published

24 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

No. 1 Arizona wraps up Bethune Cookman 107-71

Arizona wrapped up their pre-Christmas schedule with a nice bow in the form of a 36 point victory over Bethune Cookman. Seven players scored double figures as Brayden Burries lead the game with 20 points. Partway through the first half Mabil Mawut was ejected from the game while on the bench, a rare occurrence under the Tommy Lloyd led team. Arizona will take Christmas off with practice resuming on the 26th and their next game at home on the 29th.

Source link

Arizona

Will Arizona see a white Christmas? What the holiday forecast says

Published

1 day ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Will Arizona see a white Christmas? What the holiday forecast says

After a week of persistent warm weather, a storm system is expected to bring rain, not snow, to Arizona for Christmas.
Flagstaff and other high-country areas are also too warm for Christmas snow, with precipitation expected to be mostly rain.
The same weather pattern is bringing heavy rain and potential flooding to Southern California and parts of the Northwest.

Arizonans dreaming of a white Christmas will likely have to settle for rain this year as warm temperatures persist.

A storm system off the West Coast is expected to funnel moisture into the state later this week, giving much of Arizona chances for rain around Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The unsettled pattern could bring measurable rainfall, but temperatures are expected to stay too warm for snow, even in the high country. Arizona won’t get the soaking Southern California is expecting from incoming atmospheric rivers slamming the coast, but that same system will push moisture into the Southwest.

“Unfortunately, no white Christmas. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” said Ted Whittock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.

In Phoenix, rain chances as temperatures cool from record highs

In Phoenix and the lower deserts, Christmas week will start off unusually warm before gradually cooling as rain chances increase.

Phoenix could break a daily temperature record for the second day in a row on Monday, Dec. 22. The current record is 79 degrees, with a forecast high of 82. A high of 81 degrees on Sunday, Dec. 21, broke the daily record for the third time this month.

But the weather should shift as a low-pressure system moves in from the Pacific.

“We’ll see a strong low-pressure system move in just off the West Coast and bring plenty of moisture into the region starting tomorrow,” Whittock said. “As a result, we’re going to see periodic rain chances this week.”

Forecasters say there will be two main windows for rain: late Tuesday into early Wednesday and again from Christmas Eve into Christmas Day.

Temperatures will start to trend downward midweek, with highs potentially dropping into the 60s and low 70s by the weekend.

Rainfall totals in the Valley could add up to around a half-inch or more in spots.

In Flagstaff, mostly rain early with uncertain snow chances later

Up north, Flagstaff will also see an unsettled and warmer-than-normal Christmas week. But snow lovers may be disappointed.

“It’s very warm for this time of year compared to what it usually is in December, so we’re expecting this week’s events to mainly be rain instead of snow,” said Jacob Lewandowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Flagstaff.

The first chance of rain in the forecast is Tuesday, Dec. 23 in the evening. Snow levels are expected to stay high through midweek, generally between 9,000 and 10,000 feet. That puts Flagstaff below the snow line during the initial rounds of precipitation.

Chances for snow could increase later in the week as cooler air moves in, but confidence drops significantly after Wednesday.

“The chances for snow start increasing by Thursday and Friday, but it’s still a lot of uncertainty with it,” said Lewandowski. “It’s just how warm it is through the week and whether it’s going to be all rain or a little bit of snow mixed in. Most likely not a white Christmas, though. It’s too warm.”

Atmospheric rivers hit the West Coast as much of the U.S. stays warm

The storm system affecting Arizona is part of a broader pattern impacting much of the western United States. Atmospheric rivers, or long plumes of moisture from the Pacific, are expected to bring heavy rain to parts of coastal California this week.

“The atmospheric rivers are going to impact Southern Calfironia, particularly on Wednesday,” Whittock said. “This is an especially impactful system for people that are traveling to and from Southern California, especially coastal areas.”

Forecasts from the National Weather Service in Los Angeles show an extended period of heavy rain expected from Tuesday through Saturday, with 4 to 8 inches of rain likely across coastal and valley areas. Prolonged rainfall could lead to flooding and debris flow concerns, especially in burn scar areas.

Unusual weather isn’t limited to just the West. Much of the United States will have a warmer than normal holiday, with some areas experiencing their warmest Christmases on record.

A northward shift in the jet stream over the middle of the country is allowing warmer air to spread east, causing above-normal temperatures. From the Rockies to parts of the Appalachians, temperatures could reach 15 to 30 degrees above average for Christmas Day.

So whether it’s rainy or warm, much of the country will miss out on a snow globe Christmas this year. In Arizona, that likely means a damp holiday instead of a snowy one.

Hayleigh Evans writes about extreme weather and related topics for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Email her with story tips at hayleigh.evans@arizonarepublic.com.

Source link