Sun Devils look to make a splash along the West Coast

(Photo credit: Madison Sorenson/WCSN)

Arizona State softball is entering its 34th NCAA tournament, chasing its third national title. However, in order to climb the mountain, the Sun Devils face a difficult task in the Los Angeles Regional.

ASU (35-19, 14-10 Big 12 Conference) is the No. 2 seed in its regional, coming off a blowout Big 12 Tournament semifinals loss against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Head coach Megan Barlett has preached the team’s aspirations to succeed at the national level. To start the first tournament appearance in the Bartlett era, the Sun Devils will face the Mountain West Conference champions Friday.

The Aztecs

The San Diego State Aztecs (37-17, 16-6 Mountain West) enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the LA Regional. The Sun Devils will take on SDSU in their first game of the tournament Friday night.

One player has led the Aztecs through consistency offensively: senior catcher Cali Decker. Decker has shown her power by ranking first on the roster with a 1.039 OPS and a .560 slugging percentage. She has also been generating solid contact with a .479 on-base percentage (third on SDSU) and 21 extra-base hits.

On the other side of the ball, ASU should know what to expect from the Aztecs in their circle. Senior right-hander Grace Uribe and sophomore pitcher Cece Cellura have handled the bulk of pitching duties. Cellura leads the team with 139.2 innings pitched. Uribe has seen 31 appearances. Despite the experience, Uribe has not met the rest of the Aztecs’ rotation numbers.

Uribe sits at a 2.99 ERA and a .250 opponent batting average, both above team averages. The Sun Devils must try to get to her quickly, as Uribe is not known to go long into games. She has an impressive 9-2 record, but has only thrown 103 innings. Cellura’s 2.10 ERA has resulted in an 18-7 record.

ASU has a helpful asset to combat the Aztecs. ASU senior infielder AJ Murphy is only one year removed from playing for the SDSU program. In 2024, Murphy started 29 games for the Aztecs, appearing in 43 of 51 total games. During her time with SDSU, she made an impact on both sides of the ball. She had the second-most long balls on the team and ended the season with a .269 batting average. During her 43 appearances, she did not commit a single error defensively.

Murphy has stepped up even more offensively for the Sun Devils. So far in 2025, she has a .365 batting average and has exceeded her 2024 home run total with five this season.

The Bruins

The UCLA (49-10, 17-5 Big Ten Conference) have a lot more than home-field advantage in this weekend’s regional. UCLA enters its home city regional as not only the No. 1 seed in the regional, but as the No. 9 overall seed in the tournament.

The heavy favorites are on national leaderboards outside of just the regular rankings, as they are the No. 13 team in the country in team batting average, No. 6 in on-base percentage, No. 9 in slugging, No. 8 in OPS and No. 8 in home runs.

Senior utility Savannah Pola sits on or near the top of some of those statistical categories for the Bruins. She holds a 1.190 OPS, .486 on-base percentage and .704 slugging percentage, all third on the team.

As if the offense was not enough of a tall task, ASU could face relentless pitching from a deep UCLA rotation. Sophomore left-hander Kaitlyn Terry, freshman right-hander Addisen Fisher and junior Taylor Tinsley have shared the circle pretty equally. The three are all north of 109 innings pitched and are within 11 total innings of each other.

This rotation has been quite successful for the Bruins, with 103 total allowed earned runs (twenty-third lowest in the country), a 2.45 team ERA and a .217 opponent batting average (each ranking No. 16 in the country).

The Sun Devils will need good contact and smart ball placement, as UCLA has a .979 team fielding percentage, the highest in the regional.

The Gauchos

The Sun Devils will need to get past another conference champion in order to escape the LA region. The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (34-24, 17-10 Big West Conference) are entering the tournament off a Big West championship.

Freshman outfielder Giselle Mejia has led UCSB. Mejia is on top of many offensive statistical categories, including a .391 batting average, 1.036 OPS and .466 on-base percentage. She is also second on the team in slugging. However, much of the Gauchos’ power has come from junior infielder Bella Fuentes. Fuentes leads UCSB with a .582 slugging percentage and has knocked out 11 home runs during the year.

The run support from Fuentes has mostly helped junior right-hander Malaya Johnson. Johnson has tossed 198.2 of the Gauchos’ rotation’s 390.2 innings pitched. She is 22-10 and has been given 30 starts in 58 games. Through the season so far, Johnson has a 2.68 ERA with only a 1.26 WHIP.

Sun Devil Outlook

In the Sun Devils’ sole win of the Big 12 Tournament, senior right-hander Kenzie Brown pitched a complete game in a 2-1 victory against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls. The start was her eighth complete game of the year, bringing her total innings pitched to 157.2.

Brown has been the one Bartlett has relied on the most for big moments in the rotation. Brown has floated around national leaderboards with 265 strikeouts, a 1.29 ERA and 0.99 WHIP.

Brown was recently named to the NFCA D1 All-Region First Team in the West, with graduate outfielder Kelsey Hall being named to the Third Team. For ASU to succeed in the NCAA Tournament, it will take more than just Brown; she needs run support.

Freshman infielder Tiare Ho-Ching and junior outfielders Tanya Windle and Yannixa Acuña have all been consistent bats for the Sun Devils. Windle leads in batting average, Ho-Ching in on-base percentage, and Acuña has battled back well after returning from injury midseason. They can also look to freshman outfielder Ashleigh Mejia, who has started her collegiate career with a bang, hitting 13 home runs and a .601 slugging percentage, to provide some offensive support.

It will take everyone to step up in order to get out of Los Angeles for ASU. Even if the Big 12 Tournament did not go the Sun Devils’ way, they have the talent to make a splash along the coast.