NCAA Softball Tournament: Arizona Softball Beats Ole Miss

TUCSON, AZ — The Arizona Wildcats are heading to play the Arkansas Razorbacks in the NCAA Softball Tournament Super Regionals.

The Wildcats advanced to the best-of-three series by scoring 12 unanswered runs, beating Ole Miss, 12-6, Sunday night.

The contest, which was the finale of the weekend's Tucson regional, saw the home side fall behind early, before rallying to win.

The Wildcats fell behind 6-0 after three innings of play Sunday, after the Rebels scored four runs in the third frame.

The home side rallied from there, however, with redshirt senior infielder Malia Martinez's home run serving as a major catalyst for the Wildcats in an eight-run fifth inning that clinched the victory.

Longtime Arizona softball head coach Mike Candrea described his team's ability to overcome an early deficit with a strong finish as gritty Sunday night.

“When you give up six runs, it’s sometimes really difficult to compete the way they did, but I was just (impressed at) their response to that deficit," Candrea told Arizona Desert Swarm. "And then, I really thought Mariah Lopez was a huge factor today coming in and given us a really good ballgame. I’ve been around a lot of games and I told them that they showed more grit than anyone I’ve seen in a long time. And so, in a big game like that to be down by six and then end up winning by six, that says a little bit about them.”

Martinez, who has 11 home runs this season for Candrea and company, said her titanic blast on Sunday night was the end result of staying focused on the task at-hand and delivering when her teammates needed her most.

“I believe it was her screwball. It was away," Martinez said. "And so I was really trying to make adjustments, trying to get my timing down, make sure I’m tracking the ball the way in and seeing a good pitch I can drive. I knew that I needed to just try to barrel it up as much as possible.”

Martinez and the Wildcats now face the No. 6 seeded Razorbacks in Arkansas with a trip to the Women's College World Series on the line.

The two sides square off in the best-of-three series this weekend. Here's the schedule for the series:

• Game One: 6 p.m. Friday, ESPNU
• Game Two: 4 p.m. Saturday, ESPN2
• Game Three (if necessary): 8 p.m. Sunday, ESPN2