TEMPE - Kenzie Fowler struck out 12 and gave up just three hits in seven scoreless innings as Arizona defeated Indiana 4-0 in its 2011 softball season opener.
Neither team could get much going offensively and it became a battle of two highly-touted pitchers. Fowler and Indiana senior Morgan Melloh are both on the USA Player of the Year Watch List. The two combined for 24 strikeouts and gave up nine total hits and only two earned runs.
Arizona's offense struggled in its first game, posting just two earned runs on six hits.
The Wildcats scored one in the first inning when Lauren Schutzler walked, Brigette Del Ponte got hit by a pitch and Stacie Chambers hit a ground-rule-double, but then Melloh got in a groove and kept them from further damage until the sixth inning.
Arizona got its second run in the sixth when Lini Koria singled and pinch runner Chelsea Suitos came around to score on a bunt, a wild pitch and a passed ball. The Wildcats tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh with the help of two Indiana errors.
The Kajikawa Classic continues with five Wildcat games over the next three days.
