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Dakota Kennedy, Aissa Silva lift No. 18 Arizona softball to season-ending win over GCU

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Dakota Kennedy, Aissa Silva lift No. 18 Arizona softball to season-ending win over GCU


The No. 18 Arizona Wildcats needed to have short memories. Just two days after a heartbreaking loss to UCLA they were facing a tough Grand Canyon team that came in with a 42-10 record and five wins over major conference teams, including then-No. 17 Virginia Tech. UA couldn’t afford to wallow in what could have been.

Looking back wouldn’t help with a tough team on the schedule for Arizona’s final game of the regular season. Staying in the moment against a strong GCU squad allowed the Wildcats to close the regular season on a high note with a 3-2 victory.

“Obviously we didn’t have the outcome that we wanted on Sunday, but that’s done and over with,” said sophomore outfielder Dakota Kennedy. “No dwelling on that anymore. We knew we’re coming to play GCU. We were focused on GCU and we did what we had to do.”

Kennedy certainly didn’t seem to have anything on her mind except for the task at hand. She immediately put the Wildcats up with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first.

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The left fielder was a major cog in Arizona’s offense all night with a 4-for-4 showing at the plate and two home runs. It was the fourth multi-homer game of her career and the second this season.

The Wildcats got another run in the first on a Blaise Biringer groundout that scored Regan Shockey. The 2-0 lead was slim, though.

GCU got its lead-off batter on base every inning until the sixth. The Antelopes finally broke through in the top of the third. Arizona reliever Brooke Mannon loaded the bases on a single, an error, and a walk.

That ended the day for Mannon, who wasn’t able to record an out. Aissa Silva entered the game with the bases loaded and no outs. She surrendered an inherited run on a sacrifice fly but limited the damage to keep the Wildcats in front 2-1 after three innings.

GCU continued to show why it’s given teams from the Pac-12, the ACC, and the Big Ten trouble.

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Katelyn Dunckle led off the fourth and quickly leveled the game at 2-2 with a long ball to left-center.

Arizona responded in the bottom of the inning with Kennedy’s second home run. The solo homer put the Wildcats back up by one run, but it definitely wasn’t enough of a lead to make them feel comfortable.

Silva walked the first batter in the fifth, but a strikeout and a double play ended that threat. In the sixth, she sat the Lopes down in order for the first time. Then, came the seventh.

Silva hit Tinley Lucas to start the inning. Lovey Kepa’a singled to put two on with no outs. Ashley Trierweiler came up and tried to move the runners.

Trierweiler bunted into the air. It looked like Silva was undecided about whether to try to catch it in the air or let Carlie Scupin field it. In the end, no one got to it and the bases were loaded with no outs.

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As a high schooler, Silva set strikeout records for her program. It was what she was known for. In college things are different, and Lowe often talks about how important it is to use your defense. Sometimes strikeouts are needed, though—and this was one of those times.

“I definitely don’t think of it as a different mindset,” Silva said. “I kind of just go out there and be aggressive every time. Definitely having a great defense helps behind me, so I know I can rely on them to not always have a strikeout, but having a strikeout is always a plus.”

Silva struck out Kayla Rodgers swinging for the first out. She struck out Kristin Fifield looking for the second out.

Ramsay Lopez was the next hitter to step into the box. She has 13 home runs this season and could put the Lopes up by three if she got it out of the park.

Lopez fouled off the first three pitches. Then, Silva threw two balls to even the count. A foul and another ball made it full. Even another ball would tie the game. After what happened on Sunday at UCLA, that could be devastating.

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Silva dug deep and got Lopez to swing at the third strike and end the game. It was the sophomore lefty’s seventh strikeout of the game.

“That was super important to me,” Silva said. “I felt the need to be there for my team. And I like to make it a little difficult on myself and make it a little interesting. But at the end of the day, I knew I needed to come in for my team and it’s the same as when they come in for me to hit.”

Silva earned her 21st win by throwing five innings of four-hit, one-run ball. She had one walk and hit a batter to go with the seven strikeouts. Four of those strikeouts came with the bases loaded.

What’s the difference between when Silva pitched into the defense and when she went for the strikeout?

“I just think you’re reading hitters, too,” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said. “There’s going to be certain hitters who are making adjustments, and you’re going to have to pitch into your defense and then there’s going to be some people where you find some holes and you can attack them. And I was most proud of her because she knew…what she wanted to throw in one of those last at-bats and went after it. And to me, that’s just intent. It’s not her stuff. It’s not anything else except for she’s playing good softball in the moment. And I was proud of that and her knowing what she wanted in that very moment.”

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Miranda Stoddard started the game but did not figure in the decision. She gave up three hits and a walk but didn’t surrender any runs in two innings. Mannon gave up one run on a hit and a walk.

Arizona returned to its pattern of relieving pitchers fairly quickly. The pattern isn’t always popular with fans, but it has been successful most of the time this season.

On Sunday against UCLA the staff went away from that and kept Silva in the game after she ran into trouble. That wasn’t the case on Tuesday, as they pulled Stoddard despite giving up no runs and quickly lifted Mannon when she was struggling.

Lowe said that the feeling in the moment helps determine whether to keep a pitcher in the game.

“I thought they squared up Miranda kind of early and Brooke wasn’t able to find the zone tonight,” Lowe said. “I think she’ll rebound from this and do better, but at the same time, that’s a very good team and you can’t give them a lot of chances. So we wanted to get Aissa in the game. She was one of the better matchups for them anyway, we just wanted to make sure we weren’t throwing her the full seven.”

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Arizona completed its Pac-12 schedule with the series at UCLA but awaits this weekend’s games to find out who it will play in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Wildcats will be either the four or the five seed and play Oregon or Washington in a game scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. MST/PDT on Thursday, May 9.

The winner will take on the No. 1 seed on Friday, May 10. That likely means a rematch with UCLA.

The long break before the conference tournament can be looked at as a positive or a negative. Lowe is choosing to look at the pluses.

“They need a break,” she said. “I mean, it’s tricky not having your bye weekend in the middle of conference because it is kind of nice to get a breather. So they need a day, day-and-a-half of just the game off their bodies and off their minds. I think that’s the biggest thing. And to step into practice fresh.”

The Wildcats finished the regular season with an overall record of 33-15-1. They are 13-11 in Pac-12 play.

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Arizona

Baseball: Dodgers' potent offense helps Yamamoto get win over Arizona

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Baseball: Dodgers' potent offense helps Yamamoto get win over Arizona


Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw 6-1/3 innings of two-run ball and Freddie Freeman delivered a grand slam among three home runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.

With plenty of backing from the powerful Dodger lineup, Yamamoto (5-1) struck out eight while allowing seven hits and one walk in another solid start for the National League West leaders, who extended their winning streak to four.

The Japanese right-hander surrendered a 1-0 lead when Joc Pederson hit a line-drive single with two out and two on in the top of the third at Dodger Stadium.

Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a baseball game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on May 20, 2024. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Los Angeles quickly turned things around, however, racking up six runs against right-hander Slade Cecconi (1-4) in the home half of the inning.

Enrique Hernandez tied it with his solo homer and Shohei Ohtani drew a walk to load the bases before Freeman put the Dodgers up 5-1 with his fifth long bomb of the season. Will Smith extended the lead with a solo blast.

Yamamoto exited after giving up an RBI single to Kevin Newman in the seventh, while Ohtani finished 1-for-3 with a run scored.

“I allowed the first run but was able to reset myself (mentally),” Yamamoto said.

The three-time MVP of Japan’s Pacific League threw an MLB career-high 100 pitches, including 69 strikes.

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“My number of good pitches increased as the second half of the game progressed,” he said. “I felt like I was throwing with a good tempo.”


Related coverage:

Baseball: Yamamoto gets 4th win after longest MLB start

Baseball: Shohei Ohtani’s walk-off single lifts Dodgers past Reds

Baseball: Cubs’ Shota Imanaga gets 5th win with gem against Mets

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Arizona State men, women golf teams out of NCAA postseason; Arizona men advance

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Arizona State men, women golf teams out of NCAA postseason; Arizona men advance


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Four days after the Arizona State men’s golf team was eliminated in the Rancho Santa Fe (California) Regional, just the fifth time that a No. 1 seed failed to make it to the NCAA championship since 2009, the ASU women’s team was knocked out of the postseason. Missy Farr-Kaye’s squad finished 16th, one stroke out of the top 15 that advanced after the first of two cuts in the women’s postseason championship.

Two ASU golfers advanced as individuals, however, as senior Ashley Menne and Patience Rhodes got through the final day. The second cut was set for Monday night and will send the top eight teams to match play with the championship finale set for Wednesday.

The Arizona Wildcats are among the top 30 men’s teams to advance to Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course in Carlsbad, California, for the men’s championship, which runs May 24-29. UA finished third in the West Lafayette Regional. After missing last year, Arizona will make its 29th championship appearance.

Local juniors shine

Peoria Sunrise Mountain alum Ben Lorenz, who plays collegiately at Oklahoma, won medalist honors at the Rancho Santa Fe Reginal. He helped OU become one of the 30 teams to advance to Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course in Carlsbad, California, for the championship, which runs May 24-29.

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Max Lyons from Phoenix was named the Big East Men’s Golfer of the Year after his junior season at Marquette. He led the league with a 72.33 scoring average with 17 par-or-better rounds.

Scottsdale Christian Academy graduate Gracie McGovern, now a freshman at TCU, along with Brynn Kort, finished runners-up in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in San Antonio last week.

Rahm, Mickelson miss cut at PGA

Phil Mickelson, who won the PGA Championship three years ago, missed the cut in the major this time around, as did fellow former ASU golfer Jon Rahm. For Rahm, it snapped his cuts made streak in the majors at 18, which had led all pro golfers.



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Full, unredacted copy of Arizona fake electors indictment released

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Full, unredacted copy of Arizona fake electors indictment released


PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has released the full, redacted copy of the state’s fake electors scheme indictment just days after the final defendant, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, was served after his 80th birthday party while he was walking to his car.

Arizona’s Family obtained a full copy of the indictment early Monday which confirms that all defendants are facing charges for fraud, forgery, and conspiracy, all of which are felonies.

“We look forward to full vindication soon,” Giuliani’s political adviser, Ted Goodman said in a statement Saturday.

The indictment alleges that Giuliani “pressured” Arizona legislators and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to change the outcome of Arizona’s election and that he was responsible for encouraging Republican electors in Arizona and six other contested states to vote for Trump.

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Goodman said that Giuliani is expected to appear in court Tuesday unless he is granted a delay by the court.

Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, is among others who have been indicted in the case.

Neither Meadows nor Giuliani were named in the redacted grand jury indictment released earlier because they had not been served with it, but they were readily identifiable based on descriptions in the document. The Arizona attorney general’s office said Wednesday, May 1, that Meadows had been served and confirmed that he was charged with the same counts as the other named defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.

With the indictments, Arizona becomes the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election.

Giuliani faces other legal proceedings, and a bankruptcy judge this past week said he was “disturbed” about the status of the case and for missed deadlines to file financial disclosure reports. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $148 million to two former election workers for spreading a false conspiracy theory about their role in the 2020 election.

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Giuliani was also indicted last year by a grand jury in Georgia, where he is accused of spearheading Trump’s efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia to ignore the will of voters and illegally appoint pro-Trump electoral college electors.

Among the defendants are 11 Arizona Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Trump won in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election — including a former state GOP chair, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate and two sitting state lawmakers. The other defendants are Mike Roman, who was Trump’s director of Election Day operations, and four attorneys accused of organizing an attempt to use fake documents to persuade Congress not to certify Biden’s victory: John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis.

Trump himself was not charged but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator.

The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claiming that Trump carried the state. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.

Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.

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Eastman, who devised a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify the election, became the first person charged in Arizona’s fake elector case to be arraigned on Friday. He pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.

Eastman made a brief statement outside the courthouse, saying the charges against him should have never been filed.

“I had zero communications with the electors in Arizona (and) zero involvement in any of the election litigation in Arizona or legislative hearings. And I am confident that with the laws faithfully applied, I will be fully be exonerated at the end of this process,” Eastman said. He declined to make further comment.

Arraignments are scheduled May 21 for 12 other people charged in the case, including nine of the 11 Republicans who had submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona.

All of the following individuals are named as defendants in the indictment: Rudolph Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, Christina Bobb, Jenna Ellis, Michael Roman, Kelli Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jacob Hoffman, Anthony Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, and Michael Ward.

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The Arizona indictment said Eastman encouraged the GOP electors to cast their votes in December 2020, unsuccessfully pressured state lawmakers to change the election’s outcome in Arizona and told then-Vice President Mike Pence that he could reject Democratic electors in the counting of electoral votes in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

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