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No. 13 Arizona softball put a bow on its regular season schedule Sunday afternoon with an 8-3 win over the Houston Cougars at Cougar Softball Stadium.

The Wildcats (43-10) swept the Cougars (22-24) over the weekend and ended the regular season winning all four of their road series in Big 12 play. Arizona is 14-3 on the road this season — 10-2 against Big 12 teams.

In Big 12 road games this season, ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV outscored its opponents by a combined 91-28.

Arizona’s 43-win regular season marks the most wins for the UA under head coach Caitlin Lowe. It’s also the most wins for Arizona since the 2019 season, when the Wildcats went 48-14 and played in the Women’s College World Series.

Arizona secured a No. 2 seed for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City this week, which starts on Wednesday, May 7 and ends on Saturday, May 10.

Arizona started its series against Houston with a 10-1 win over the Cougars on Friday. The Wildcats’ run-rule win was sealed by left fielder Dakota Kennedy’s grand slam in the fifth inning.

Kaiah Altmeyer and Tayler Biehl also had two hits each and the Wildcats scored 10 runs on 10 hits.

The Cougars took the lead early in the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning, but the Wildcats struck back, scoring two runs in the top of the third. Altmeyer brought in the first run with an RBI single. Altmeyer then stole second and Regan Shockey, who was on third, stole home, giving Arizona a 2-1 lead.

The Wildcats had another big inning in the fourth as Miranda Stoddard hit a leadoff home run. Kennedy brought the score to 4-1 after an RBI groundout.

In the fifth, Arizona added six more runs to the score after Sydney Stewart hit a two-run shot, bringing the score to 6-1.

Kennedy’s grand slam was the exclamation point to Arizona’s series-opening game.

Stoddard, who was in the circle, pitched a little over 4 innings, allowing one run on six hits. Saya Swain took over in the fifth and retired two batters. The Wildcats’ win improved Stoddard’s record to 11-0.

The Wildcats ran it back on Saturday with another win over the Cougars.

In Saturday’s matchup, Arizona blanked Houston 5-0 and secured its sixth Big 12 series win of the season.

Saturday’s game started off slow, going scoreless for four innings, until Jenna Sniffen drove in Sydney Stewart from third base in the fifth bringing the score to 1-0.

Both Sniffen and Stewart were 3-for-3 at the plate, but Sniffen led the offense with a home run and three RBI.

The seventh was a big inning for the Wildcats as the team put four runs on the board to take a 5-0 lead over the Cougars.

Stewart snagged the opportunity to make it home after a passed ball and a throwing error. Biehl then hit a single, bringing home the second run of the inning.

Sniffen closed out the final inning with her seventh home run of the season, a two-run homer, to make the final score 5-0.

In the circle, Devyn Netz, who was recently named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, threw a complete game with only two hits allowed and eight strikeouts. Her record improved to 20-5 this season.

For Houston’s Senior Day on Sunday, the Wildcats set the tone with a five-run first inning. Kennedy scored the first run courtesy of an Altmeyer RBI, then Stoddard blasted a grand slam over the right-center wall.

Houston second baseman Bethany Aguilar hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. A wild pitch by UA pitcher Saya Swan scored Houston’s second run on Sunday. Saya was replaced by Stoddard, who faced 14 batters and pitched two strikeouts in four innings. Stoddard was credited for the win.

After an error by Houston in the third, Stewart hitting her 16th home run of the season in the fourth and Stoddard’s RBI (via fielder’s choice) in the sixth, Arizona went into the final inning of the regular season with an 8-2 advantage.

In the seventh inning, UA pitcher Aissa Silva surrendered a solo home run to Houston freshman Brooke Wells, but the Wildcats were able to hold on to complete the sweep.

Big 12 Championship set in OKC

Since Arizona locked up the No. 2 seed in the tournament-style Big 12 Championship at OGE Energy Field at Devon Park, the Wildcats will have a first-round bye and face the winner of seventh-seeded UCF and 10th-seeded Utah, which play each other on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Arizona will face either UCF or Utah on Thursday at 3 p.m. on ESPN+.

If Arizona advances to the semifinals on Friday at 3:30 p.m., the Wildcats will battle either third-seeded Iowa State, sixth-seeded BYU or 11th-seeded Houston.

Top-seeded Texas Tech will play the winner between eight-seeded Baylor and ninth-seeded Kansas. The Red Raiders will likely face either fourth-seeded Oklahoma State or fifth-seeded Arizona State.

The Big 12 title game on Saturday at 9 a.m. will be on ESPN.

Netz drafted by Bandits in AUSL Draft

After Netz received a “golden ticket� for the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League Draft for college players, she was guaranteed to get drafted, but she discovered her professional fate Saturday night.

Netz, who was one of 12 college softball players to receive a golden ticket, was drafted by the Bandits with the 10th overall pick in the third round. Netz was the only player from the Big 12 to be drafted to the AUSL.

Netz, who was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week last week, will reunite with former UA teammate and pitcher Taylor McQuillin, who was drafted to the Bandits in January. Former Arizona softball star Jenny Dalton-Hill is the general manager of the Bandits. UA softball legend Jennie Finch is an advisor to the league.

The new AUSL features four teams: Bandits, Talons, Blaze and Volts. The four clubs will play a 24-game season beginning June 7 and will tour 10 different cities between the regular season and postseason.

The Bandits face the Talons in Rosemont, Illinois on June 7.