When the Arizona Wildcats moved their Friday home game up to tonight, hoping to dodge rain, Chelsea Goodacre texted her parents.
They were set to fly in from Southern California on Friday morning.
"You may want to change your flight," she typed Wednesday, after the team's announcement.
If her family can land by today's 6 p.m. game against Boise State, Goodacre might make it worthwhile. Here's a look at the catcher's hot streak from last weekend's five-game Wildcat Invitational sweep, by the numbers:
• 10 for 13 - Goodacre went 10 for 13 last weekend. She had been 11 for 45 prior to that this season.
"It felt great," she said. "The first couple weekends I struggled a little bit, but I never got away from my plan."
The sophomore went from seventh to second on the team in batting average.
"It wasn't really anything physically," she said. "It was a pitch selection mentality thing.
"What pitches am I going to go for? What am I going to hit?"
UA coach Mike Candrea said she "saw the ball well, had a good plan, and stuck with the plan."
• 0 - Physical tweaks made to Goodacre's swing this season.
Candrea, a swing guru, has long admired her left-handed stroke, comparing her to former big-leaguer Will Clark.
"We tried to get her to keep a little more pressure between her knees so she can make some adjustments," Candrea said. "Other than that, try to stay out of the mechanical thought and try to keep her on automatic pilot."
• 42 - Runs scored by the UA in five games last weekend, after scoring 60 in its first 15 games.
Goodacre called it a "confidence-booster," especially for the Wildcats freshmen.
"No matter what the pitching caliber is," she said, "you still have to get up there and hit it.
"I noticed a lot of strides with our team."
The offense is "not perfect, by any means," the coach said, but getting better.
"Any time you can put some runs on the board is a good thing," he said. "At this stage, a big part of this game would be getting some confidence."
Junior pitcher Shelby Babcock said it affects those in the circle, too.
"Us scoring these runs, as many runs as we were getting, really boosted our confidence," she said, "And made our pitchers have belief, to go out and just pitch."
The Series
• Who: Boise St. at Arizona, three-game series
• Schedule: 6 p.m., today; 5 and 7 p.m. Saturday
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