(Photo: Liesl Babicka/WCSN)
No. 7 Arizona State softball hosts No. 3 Oregon softball this weekend at Farrington Stadium.
The Sun Devils come off a series win against Oregon State, dropping only one game to the Beavers. On the other hand, the Ducks swept No. 9 U of A with two of the three games only going to six innings.
ASU hasn’t played a high ranked opponent since taking the series against No. 1 Washington at the start of Pac-12 play.
“Going in with excitement and that confidence we did with Washington and do that with every game, but especially with this series with Oregon coming,” said Maddi Hackbarth.
These two teams almost look identical on paper. With an overall record of 33-5 and 7-2 in conference play, the Sun Devils slide into second place in the Pac-12 standings.
But, the Ducks aren’t far behind as they fall into third in the Pac-12 with an overall record of 32-6 and also have a 7-2 conference play record like ASU.
Before starting Pac-12 play, the Ducks had notable wins against No. 25 Georgia, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 7 LSU and No. 13 Florida State.
Even though the Ducks won against Florida State for the first time in the Unconquered Invitational, they then lost to the Seminoles 2-1 in the last game of the invitational.
Oregon had a duel against No. 15 Ole Miss that went nine innings but ended up losing 1-0. The Ducks also lost to No. 11 Tennessee by one run in the Mary Nutter Classic.
In the Pac-12, the Oregon Ducks stole their first series against No. 3 UCLA, only dropping one game to the Bruins. Since playing UCLA, the Ducks fell to Oregon State in one game, but won the series just like the Sun Devils.
Senior catcher Gwen Svekis has led the Ducks’ offense this season with 11 homeruns and 38 RBIs. However, it isn’t just one player that has stepped up for the Ducks.
Out of 15 players on Oregon, 12 have hit a least one home run combining for a team total of 47 homeruns.
Freshman Mary Iakopo has 31 RBIs, sophomore Shannon Rhodes has 29 RBIs and senior Jenna Lilley has tallied 27 RBIs.
“Not much changes, we still don’t worry about them or what their ranked or anything, we still play our game and stay who we are as ASU softball and that’s all the matters,” said pitcher G Juarez.
The women who have stepped into the circle this season for the Ducks have been extremely dominate. Indiana native Miranda Elish has a 0.78 ERA with a 13-1 record on the season while Wisconsin native Megan Kleist has a 0.87 ERA and 12-4 record.
The Pennsylvania native Maggie Balint has also gotten time in the circle with a 7-1 record and a 1.86 ERA.
“We have to come out, we can’t overlook teams, when we overlook teams we don’t come out as strong,” said Kindra Hackbarth. “But, I feel like our team has a lot of confidence.”
On the flip side, Juarez, Breanna Macha and Dale Ryndak still run the circle for the Sun Devils. Juarez threw 15 strikeouts against Oregon State and has a 0.70 ERA.
Offensively, Danielle Gibson leads the team with 11 home runs, 31 RBIs and a .827% slugging average. Jade Gortarez and Marisa Stankiewicz both have six home runs apiece.
After a competitive weekend in Corvallis, the Sun Devils will continue to move forward with this series against Oregon for another competitive Pac-12 weekend.
The series begins Friday, April 13 at 7 p.m. The two teams play again Saturday, April 14 for a 6 p.m. start time and then on Sunday, April 15 at 12 p.m.
