In its Pac-12 home opener, the No. 2 ASU softball team will take on a much-improved No. 23 Oregon State team.
Oregon State went 36-23 last year (9-14 Pac-12) and appeared in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007. Considering it won 10 conference games in the prior three seasons combined, that’s a big improvement.
In her first season at the helm, Beavers coach Laura Berg is one of the catalysts for the turnaround. She was an assistant for Oregon State in 2012 before being named head coach in August.
On the field, freshman first baseman Natalie Hampton leads Oregon State (23-6) with her .433 batting average and 10 home runs.
The Beavers haven’t played a conference game yet, and last year ASU (31-3, 2-1 Pac-12) split two games with Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore.
“They’re in the Pac-12,” coach Clint Myers said. “Everybody in the Pac-12 is good. We got to come out with our A-game and play consistent softball."
In last weekend’s series against UCLA, ASU took two out of three games. But it struggled with runners in scoring position, leaving 32 runners on base.
“We’re spending a little time on situational hitting,” Myers said. “We’re doing a good job of getting people on. We’re just not doing a good job getting them in.”
One reason for some of the perceived struggles was that a ton of the hits ASU had were singles. It’s very difficult to score if a team needs four hits in an inning to produce a run.
On the season, 65 percent of ASU’s hits were singles, and 71 percent of the 28 hits in the UCLA series were singles.
The struggles are a little surprising, considering ASU is one of the country’s top hitting teams in batting average (.361, third) and slugging percentage (.603, second).
A bright spot in the series was the play of freshman first baseman Nikki Girard. Girard went 4-for-9 with two home runs and drove in six runs.
“Nikki’s a very good player,” Myers said. “She’s starting to understand the game, and we’re hoping that her performance level stays right at that level.”
The series runs Thursday through Saturday, and the teams are not playing on the usual Sunday slot due to the Easter holiday. Friday’s 7 p.m. game is sold out, according to ASU Athletics.
ASU will appear on the Pac-12 Network for the first time on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“As a team it’s our first TV game,” junior center fielder Alix Johnson said. “Especially for the youngsters on the team, they’ve never experienced that, cameras everywhere, microphones, interviews. That should be exciting for them, and you have to get pumped when it’s on TV. All your family, friends that are out of town are watching.”
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu
