After weeks of jockeying for position and months practicing on the field, the path to Oklahoma City became clearer for the ASU softball team, which earned the No. 5 national seed in the postseason.
ASU (45-10, 16-8 Pac-12) hosts a double-elimination regional at Farrington Stadium May 17-19, joined by Georgia, San Diego State and San Jose State.
If ASU advances from the regional, the Sun Devils would host a best-of-three Super Regional for the right to go to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
The double-elimination format worked nicely for ASU in the past, overcoming a loss in regionals and Super Regionals to advance to the Women’s College World Series in 2012.
“I think it benefits us because having to play in the heat, practice in the heat, we’re a lot more adept to spend six, seven hours on the field compared to some of our counterparts,” ASU coach Clint Myers said. “I’m hoping that doesn’t happen this year and we just take care of business.”
The Sun Devils were unsure whether they would host in the first two rounds of the postseason, given their RPI of 12 and No. 5 stature in the polls entering the weekend. The doubt stemmed from losing series at Utah and rival UA.
But in the last week of the regular season, ASU took down third-seeded Oregon, which was enough to reassure confidence in ASU from the selection committee.
“Obviously we were really happy because we were skeptical if we were going to host or not,” junior shortstop Cheyenne Coyle said. “It’s always nice playing at home. We had a really good weekend and we had good wins against a good team.”
ASU relishes the opportunity to play in from of their home crowd, sporting a 35-3 home record. Myers is 25-3 at home in the postseason with the Sun Devils. Two of those losses came last year.
“Throughout the year we’ve played our best softball at home,” junior outfielder Alix Johnson said. “It’s definitely an advantage to play at home for two weekends straight.”
ASU opens postseason play with WAC champion San Jose State (42-15, 17-4) Friday at 3 p.m. on ESPNU.
Last season, ASU defeated SJSU 4-0 in the Kajikawa Classic on opening day, but the Spartans look different from the .500 team they were a season ago.
“It’s been a year, anything could happen in a year,” Johnson said. “Even the old film that we do have, we don’t truly know if that’s going to be the standards that they have this year.”
If ASU defeats SJSU in the opening game, they will take on the winner of Georgia-SDSU Saturday.
Freeman named Pac-12 Player of the Year
It’s been a stellar season for sophomore catcher Amber Freeman.
First, she blogs for ESPNW. Then she was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, the conference announced Wednesday.
Freeman started all 55 regular season games for ASU and hit .385 with 16 homers and 58 RBIs.
Freeman was a Top-25 Finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and elevated her game in conference play, sporting a .394 batting average.
More Sun Devils honored
Freeman wasn’t the only Sun Devil honored in the past week.
Escobedo was named USA Softball Player of the Week and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for her performance against third-seeded Oregon. She gave up just two runs in 13 innings with 19 strikeouts, and was one of the reasons why the Sun Devils took the series from the Pac-12 champions.
“That’s very exciting to be recognized by the USA program and even Pac-12,” Escobedo said. “I don’t think about it on the field, but when I do succeed and receive an award like that, it’s great.”
Escobedo, Coyle, and Freeman were also named to the Pac-12 first team.
Escobedo went 25-4 with a 2.31 ERA and 289 strikeouts in the regular season. Myers said she will start Game 1 of the postseason.
Coyle, in her first season with ASU, hit .364 and leads the Sun Devils with 19 home runs and 60 RBI.
Junior pitcher Mackenzie Popescue was named on the Pac-12 second team and first baseman Nikki Girard was named to the Pac-12 all-freshman team.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
