(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
No. 8 Arizona State softball returns to Farrington Stadium for a weekend home stand against North Dakota State University and Brigham Young University Friday and Saturday.
The Sun Devils (27-4) ride a four-game winning streak into the series after sweeping the California Golden Bears and moving up four spots in the Top-25 rankings.
Head coach Trisha Ford is excited about the team bonding well on and off the field.
“We believe in each other,” Ford said. “There really is a family atmosphere and they all want to be a big part of this group.”
North Dakota State (18-10) travel to Tempe having lost three of its last four contests. For the sixth straight year, the Bison were named the Summit League preseason softball favorite in a poll of the league’s head coaches.
NDSU head coach Darren Mueller is in his 17th season managing the team. Under Mueller’s guidance, the Bison won the NCAA Norman Regional in 2009 and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional at Arizona State.
Senior right fielder Bre Beatty leads the Bison with a .382 batting average, 54 hits, 11 doubles, three home runs and 21 runs batted in. Senior catcher Tabby Heinz has also been a steady force for the Bison offense, batting .316 along with one home run and 12 RBIs.
In the circle, the Bison pitching staff is led by senior ace Jacquelyn Sertic. Sertic was a member of the 2017 Summit League All-Tournament team and the 2017 NFCA All-Midwest Region Second team.
This season, Sertic has posted a 1.74 era with 14 wins, 16 complete games, five shutouts and 168 strikeouts in 124.2 innings of work. Her total of 168 strikeouts ranked third among starting pitchers in the nation, ahead of Arizona State’s ace, G Juarez, by nine.
The Sun Devils and Bison have not crossed swords for six seasons. This will be the fifth meeting between NDSU and ASU and the Sun Devils lead the series 4-0, including three wins in the NCAA tournament in 2009 and 2011. In 2012, ASU run-ruled NDSU 10-2 thanks to a five-run third inning and quality pitching.
Brigham Young (17-14) enter the ASU Invitational after knocking off No.13 Baylor last weekend on back-to-back home runs and a dominate outing from sophomore starter Kerisa Viramontes.
The Cougars are run by head coach Gordon Eakin, who has managed BYU for 15 years. Eakin led his team to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship in 2012 and the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Championship in 2013. In the each of the last four seasons, Eakin’s support contributed to finishing in first place in the Western Coast Conference.
In 2018, BYU has not started off strong. The Cougars lost four of five games at the 2018 Kajikawa Classic at Farrington Stadium, a tournament in which BYU had success in previous years. However, BYU has climbed back, winning eight out of its last 10 games.
Junior Lexi Tarrow leads BYU with a .375 batting average, 33 hits and seven doubles. Tarrow is a lefty multi-tool player with speed who can bunt, slap, steal bases and hit home runs. She owns the highest on-base percentage on her team with .491 and a team-leading 11 stolen bases. The Sun Devil pitchers will need to be aware of this quick, yet powerful hitter throughout the series.
Looking over the Cougars pitching staff, at the helm of the rotation is the aforementioned Viramontes. Last week, she earned WCC Pitcher of the Week allowing only one earned run in 25.1 innings in the circle. Viramontes holds an overall 1.83 era alongside seven wins, eight complete games, one shutout and 53 strikeouts.
Between ASU and BYU, the Sun Devils stand undefeated, going 8-0 against lifetime the Cougars. In the most recent matchup in 2012, ASU won 3-0 when at the time, the Sun Devils were ranked No. 5 in the country.
All season, pitcher Giselle “G” Juarez has been lights out for the Sun Devil pitching staff. The sophomore has thrown 98 innings with a 0.71 era. She’s won 13 games and has 11 complete games, 8 of them being shutouts. Additionally, Juarez has recorded 3 saves and struck out 159 batters on just 18 walks with a .122 opponent average.
“Knowing the game better mentally and being healthier has been the biggest differences between this year and last year,” Juarez said during Wednesday’s media availability. “We are a force to be reckoned with.”
On top of her impressive numbers, Juarez ranks in the top 10 in the nation in earned run average, shutouts, strikeout-to-walk ratio and strikeouts. The southpaw also earned two of the most prestigious NCAA awards last week, collecting both NFCA and USA Softball Division I National Pitcher of the Week honors. In addition,
Juarez received Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week award for the third week in a row, becoming the first Sun Devil to claim the title in such a span.
On the offensive side of things, freshman first baseman Danielle Gibson has been on a tear. Also this past week, Gibson was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the first time this season. The last Sun Devil to win the honor was senior Breanna Macha in 2015. Gibson drove in all of the runs in the series against No. 1 Washington with game-winning two-run doubles and hit .385, drawing a team-leading four walks on route to series victories over the Huskies and the Golden Bears.
The Sun Devils will play doubleheaders Friday and Saturday. ASU plays NDSU at 4 p.m. and BYU at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Saturday, the Devils play NDSU at 1:30 p.m. and with BYU at 4 p.m.
