OKLAHOMA CITY — “Defense wins championships.”
If it’s not the coaches’ favorite cliché, it certainly is one of them. Journalists are quite fond of it, too—and Arizona softball’s performance against the UCLA Bruins on Friday night is a good example of why. While defense wasn’t the sole reason the Wildcats fell short in their second game at the Women’s College World Series, it was definitely one of them.
From Arizona’s perspective, the worst part of it was that early on, it looked like defense might be the reason the Wildcats won the game and advanced to the semifinals as the only unbeaten team in the 2019 postseason.