No more disappointing losses.
That is the mindset of the No. 23 ASU softball team going into its three-game slate against Utah. The series against the Utes (31-15, 9-9 Pac-12) follows a series vs. Oregon State that both players and coaches were not satisfied with despite taking two of the three games.
"Utah is a very good ball club," ASU head coach Craig Nicholson said. "I think people underestimate what Utah is capable of doing, and we've got to make sure that we don't take Utah for granted."
The Sun Devils (29-16, 7-7 Pac-12) are tied with Washington for 5th in the Pac-12 standings and are virtually tied with the Utes, who have played four more conference games. A sweep this weekend would do wonders for the confidence of an ASU team that broke out of a four-game losing streak following two consecutive wins over Oregon State.
Nicholson said his team has high expectations for itself but knows what it's going up against.
"We've got to continue to pitch well. Utah's strength really is their pitching and their defense," Nicholson said. "Not that (Utah is) a bad hitting ball club, but they're not at the same level as an Oregon or some of the other teams we've played in conference."
The Utes, like the Sun Devils, have two freshmen starting pitchers that have carried their fair share of the load this season in the circle.
Miranda Viramontes and Katie Donovan have pitched 82.8 percent of the possible innings for Utah this season, compared to 90.5 percent for ASU freshmen Dale Ryndak and Breanna Macha. Utah's freshmen have a combined record of 24-13, while ASU's are a combined 26-15.
Another similarity between the Sun Devils and Utes is their leader in the batter's box. Amber Freeman and Kate Dickman, both seniors, bat .433 and .428 respectively and are both tied for their respective team lead in home runs. The difference? Freeman has 14 home runs for ASU (tied with senior Bethany Kemp), and Dickman has six.
Both teams will need its young pitchers to perform at a high level in order to counteract each other's sluggers, but ASU has a clear advantage on the offensive side. The Sun Devils have 70 total home runs and 293 RBI. Compare that to Utah, which has 31 total home runs and 195 RBI.
Utah's offensive struggles, given that it has a home run only 8.8 percent of the time that it gets a hit, will play right into the hand of a pitcher like Ryndak, who can give up the long ball but is a master in forcing teams to ground or pop out. In comparison to the Utes, ASU's offense hits a home run 17.5 percent of the time that it gets a hit.
With plenty of similarities but one glaring difference between them and Utah, the Sun Devils enter Farrington on Sunday looking to extend a winning streak that could quite possibly reach eight games after next weekend's trip to lowly Stanford.
First pitch of game one against the Utes is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow @RClarkeASU on Twitter.
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