Devils gear up for ASU Invitational with conference play around the corner

TEMPE — After playing eight games in five days, the Sun Devils head into the ASU Invitational this weekend, their last tournament before the last Pac-12 regular season begins March 8. Sitting at 11-6, ASU has an opportunity this weekend to set the tone for conference play, as head coach Megan Bartlett and the Devils will embark on a difficult journey the rest of the season.

On Friday, the Sun Devils start the ASU Invitational with games against UC San Diego and James Madison. The UC San Diego Tritons come into Tempe with a 3-10 record, and a ton of holes in their lineup that the Sun Devils can pick apart. With just one home run all season and a .236 team batting average, the Tritons may be the perfect team for ASU’s pitching staff to find its groove against after giving up 10 runs in ASU’s most recent game against New Mexico State.

Inside the circle is no different for UC San Diego, with a 5.38 team ERA and its best pitcher posting a 3.76 ERA. The Sun Devils have had no problem getting the bats going with 16 home runs and a .331 team batting average and should be able to continue that trend in this matchup.

Their second game of the day is against the James Madison Dukes and their 10-4 record. Their most impressive game of the year might not even be a win, but rather a 2-3 loss to then-No. 17 South Carolina. The Dukes have solid bats in their lineup, but ASU needs to look out for one in particular. With almost half of the team’s home runs with five and 18 RBIs, graduate utility player Reed Butler is this team’s powerhouse, hitting a home run in each of their last three games.

The Dukes’ pitching staff is a little more spread out with a team ERA of 2.10 and 93 total strikeouts. Every team has an ace, and JMU is no different with senior Alissa Humphrey posting a 1.34 ERA and .70 WHIP. In her last 10 innings pitched, she’s given up five earned runs but has 12 strikeouts to go along with them. The Sun Devils have 89 strikeouts on the year, but if they can go the distance with Humphrey, they can put up runs in a hurry as seen in previous games.

On Saturday, the Devils will end the Invitational against Omaha and North Florida. The Mavericks enter the invitational at a respectable 10-6, and this isn’t their first time in the state of Arizona this season. They took part in the Bear Down Tournament hosted in Tucson and went 2-4, with both wins coming against Long Beach State and all four losses courtesy of Arkansas and Arizona. The Mavericks were only able to score more than three runs once and were also held scoreless in a mercy rule loss to Arizona.

Omaha is another team that relies on one player, with junior infielder Sydney Thomason responsible for four of the team’s eight home runs. She’s a combined 1-10 in her last three games, and ASU will look to keep her in a slump.

The Mavericks’ bullpen isn’t anything special, with the team posting a collective 3.32 ERA. Graduate right-hander Kamryn Meyer is a strikeout machine, with 51 strikeouts in 42 innings, which could cause trouble for ASU. Her ERA took a hit and dropped to 2.31 after her last appearance, where she allowed four runs in two innings against Abilene Christian.

The Sun Devils close out the Invitational against North Florida, which currently sits at a 9-5 record. The Ospreys take a three-game win streak into Tempe after outscoring their opponents 24-2 in last weekend’s UNF-JU Classic.

The Ospreys’ bats have been quiet in the first 14 games of the season, with just five home runs and 55 RBIs, while maintaining a .240 team average. The player that stands out the most in the batters box is senior outfielder Madisyn Frederico with her two home runs and seven RBIs. The Devils can use this game to close the weekend on a high note before moving into conference play.

With the pitching staff as banged up as it is, a weekend like this will be a great test of how far each of the healthy pitchers can go. With sophomore righty Kylee Magee slated to return it could alleviate the workload for senior right-hander Mac Osborne, graduate right-hander Marissa Schuld and senior right-hander Deborah Jones. If ASU’s bats perform anywhere close to the way they did last week, the Sun Devils should have no problem coasting through the weekend.