Steady at Shortstop
Tayler Biehl grew up dreaming of playing for the Wildcats — then spent four years embodying what it means to wear the Block ‘A.ʼ
For Tayler Biehl ʼ26, wearing the Block “A” was always the plan.
As a child, Biehl watched her aunt, Jenae Leles, power Arizona softball to four consecutive Women’s College World Series appearances from 2006 to 2009. Biehl remembers coming to Tucson from her home in Folsom, California, to watch games: the feeling of the face paint, the roar of the crowd, and being surrounded by family in the stands.
“I always wanted to be an Arizona Wildcat,” Biehl says.
Childhood photos provided by Biehl
She even has photos of herself in the arms of Leles’ teammates: Alicia Hollowell, Chelsie Mesa and Caitlin Lowe – now Biehl’s head coach at Arizona.
Biehl’s college softball career came to a close in May, when Arizona’s season ended in the Durham Regional. Now, the standout shortstop and recent grad is reflecting on how four years in Tucson shaped her as a player and a person.
She arrived on campus in 2022 as part of Lowe’s second recruiting class, a self-described “wide-eyed freshman” looking up to teammates Allie Skaggs and Carlie Scupin. She found playing time wherever she could, playing at six of nine positions in 2023 and even catching in the bullpen when needed.
“I was just trying to do whatever I could to be the best for my team,” she says.
She didn’t have to wait long for her breakthrough. In 2024, Biehl’s sophomore season, she settled in as the starting shortstop. The game, she says, began to slow down as she became more confident in her reads, more fluid in her movements and less consumed by the idea of playing perfectly. She produced a .977 fielding percentage with 70 putouts and 103 assists that regular season and was voted the Pac-12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
Biehl says much of that improvement came from learning how to find the rhythm of the game rather than race through it. One of her coaches once compared her to an overeager golden retriever: “I was going a million miles a minute,” Biehl says. “My legs were going one way and my body was going the other way.”
Over time, she worked to become less choppy — both physically and mentally — trusting her preparation instead of trying to force every play.
“I can lean on my teammates, I can lean on my support system, and I can just have fun doing it and find the joy of not putting too much pressure on myself to have to be perfect, because this game is so opposite of perfect,” she says.
That mindset carried into her senior year: On April 12, with Biehl at the heart of the Wildcats’ infield, Arizona set a single-season program record with 46 double plays. The previous record was set in 1995.
The more Biehl grew into her game, the more she came to understand what it means to represent Arizona softball.
“Integrity is huge,” Biehl says. “Playing the game the right way, taking care of your people, taking care of the alumni, taking care of your facilities.”
That perspective, she says, was shaped in large part by Lowe.
“She wants us to be the greatest humans we can be before we’re the greatest athletes,” Biehl says. “She’s always cared about me as a human more than as an athlete, which I think is so special.”
Biehl’s people-first mindset now extends beyond softball. The recent grad plans to return to the Sacramento area for nursing school, with the goal of becoming a registered nurse and working in bedside care.
“I want to be able to be an advocate for those people who can’t help themselves and support them in a way that interests me but also serve others in a way that will be life- changing to them,” she says.
She also expects to stay connected to the sport by coaching alongside Leles at youth clinics back home.
For all Arizona gave her, Biehl says she leaves the program knowing she gave something back.
“I can say that I definitely watered the grass where my feet were,” she says. “I know I’ll leave this place better than I found it.”
