With arguably the best pitching staff in the nation, expectations are high for the ASU softball team, which looks to defend its national title in 2012.
However, four starters from 2011 have moved on, and a lot must be done in their absence for the team to win its third championship in five years. Here is a projection of what the positions look like heading into the 2012 season.
Catcher: Freshman Amber Freeman
Freeman, the top recruit joining this year’s ASU team, hails from Mater Dei High School in Lakewood, Calif. She spent her winter break playing alongside ASU sophomore pitcher Dallas Escobedo for the 2011 U.S. Junior Women’s National team.
Both Kaylyn Castillo and Lacy Goodman departed after starting 58 and 18 games. Both batted above .350. This means someone needs to step up in 2012.
“(Freeman) has all the tools, but she has got to learn how to use those tools to really become a good catcher,” ASU coach Clint Myers said.
Freeman is battling senior Nikole Afusia and sophomore Lucy Aubrecht for the starting role.
Volunteer coach Casey Myers, whom the girls have described as “awesome” and “unbelievable,” has made a big impact in getting the three catchers ready for the season.
“He is so full of knowledge that I feel like we have all learned so much already,” Freeman said.
First Base: Senior Christina Zambrana
Zambrana, one of seven seniors on the roster, has the most experience to step in after Mandy Urfer graduated, who started all 66 games for ASU in her senior season.
“She has performed pretty well and is really swinging it good right now,” Myers said.
The ability to help the team in the batter’s box will be key for this position to fill the void Urfer left. In 2011, Urfer hit .326 with 12 home runs. Zambrana has a career average of .252.
However, Zambrana is anything but worried as she focuses on getting ready for the season.
“(I’ve been) hitting every day, looking back at my past at bats and seeing what sorts of pitches the pitchers throw me,” Zambrana said.
Freshman Bethany Kemp will look to help on the hitting front, as she hit .470 at Valencia High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., in 2011.
“Beth is my biggest competition, but, at the same time, I am doing everything I can to help her,” Zambrana said. “If she plays (or) if I play, either way I am happy, because I know the best person is out there.”
Second Base: Junior Sam Parlich
Parlich returns to ASU this season as one of the best players at her position in the best conference in the country.
One of two players returning that started all 66 games last season (including senior shortstop Katelyn Boyd), Parlich has been a mainstay at second base for the past two years.
Working alongside Boyd, she has built ASU’s reputation of being a solid defensive team.
“She and Boyd have been working together a long time and know each quite well,” Myers said. “So we are pretty excited about second base.”
Coming into this season, the Chandler native will take on a new role as a leader who welcomes two new starters to the fold.
“This year, I know I really have to step it up on my communication,” Parlich said. “Say Beth plays first base and she’s new, (so) I’m constantly communicating with her (and) making sure she knows where to go, unlike last year with Urfer.”
Shortstop: Senior Katelyn Boyd
Over winter break, CollegeSportsMadness.com named Boyd the 2012 preseason Field Player of the Year.
She led the Sun Devils in batting average, hits, doubles and stolen bases in 2011. If ASU performs well this season, it is likely the fourth year senior will have a lot to do with it.
“Athletic-wise, Boyd is probably the best shortstop in the country,” Myers said.
Boyd and Parlich will provide leadership to an otherwise inexperienced infield.
“We are trying to get our corners to learn just as quick and to be up to our level,” Boyd said. “It’s a lot of fun when you’re not thinking, you’re just playing.”
Boyd has continued to improve every season since her freshman year in batting average, hits, runs, total bases, home runs, walks and slugging percentage.
Third Base: Junior Danielle Muniz
Despite being new to ASU, junior college transfer Muniz knows what it’s like to win a national championship.
Muniz brought the bat with her from Yavapai College, which won the National Junior College Championship last year. She hit .437 with 101 hits and 27 doubles, all higher marks than any Sun Devil recorded in 2011.
Though she will face much stiffer competition in the upcoming months, Myers has seen enough from her to project her as a competitor to take over at the hot corner.
“Dani came back from break and is playing better right now than when she left,” Myers said. “We are pretty excited about that. It’s a great competition over there at third.”
Muniz said this ascension was more of a mental leap than anything physical.
“A lot of things that go wrong with me are mental,” Muniz said. “I overthink and overanalyze stuff. Playing in high school and at my (junior college), I never sat a game. Coming in here, it was different, because everybody is good.”
Muniz has been battling hard with freshman Haley Steele, who was the CIF San Diego Section softball player of the year at Poway High School.
Outfield: Senior Annie Lockwood, freshman Elizabeth Caporuscio and senior Talor Haro
The outfield for ASU has a lot of depth.
Lockwood returns after leading the team with 19 home runs in 62 games started last year. Lockwood, who scored the final run of the 2011 season to seal a 7–2 national championship win for the Sun Devils, will again be called on to lead ASU with her bat.
However, it was her solid fielding Myers praised.
“If she gets to the ball, she will catch it,” Myers said. “She’s very accurate with her throws, and she knows what she’s doing out there.”
According to Myers, the other two positions are wide open.
Talor Haro is returning this season, but is nursing an arm injury. If she can recover in time for the season, it looks as if she will get the starting nod. Haro had the third best batting average on the team in 2011 and started 62 of the team’s 66 games.
“I’m kind of taking it one day at a time,” Haro said. “I’m just adjusting my mechanics to kind of alleviate the pain in it.”
Caporuscio seems to be the likely starter at the other position, despite being new to the team.
The freshman has a litany of accolades, including First Team All-State honors from several media outlets in California and two ASA 18U Champions Cup wins, but her best quality might be her ability to adjust to a new environment.
“(She) had a tremendous fall,” Myers said. “She is really starting to swing again here in the spring, but time will tell.”
Myers talked about the difficulties in coming into one of the top programs in the country right out of high school.
“The physical part of the game is no different,” Myers said. “The big difference is we do so many things … They have to understand one, the rules, two, the situations and three, the ability to let go with anything that goes.
“Let’s face it, seven out of 10 times, to be a .300 hitter, you’re unsuccessful. How you handle that determines if you are going to be a .300 hitter or a .400 hitter.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
