The bats have been getting hot for no. 22 Arizona State softball (19-5) at the right time as the Sun Devils enter into conference play this weekend. ASU will host No. 23 Oregon State from Friday through Sunday at Farrington Stadium.
ASU leaves the nonconference schedule riding an eight-game win streak. ASU’s defense thrived last weekend and only allowed three runs through five games. In the midweek matchup against Marist, ASU won its fourth run-rule game in the last six games.
The circle has been the strongest point for ASU. Freshman Mac Morgan threw shutouts over BYU and New Mexico State to earn her team-leading ninth win. Senior Marissa Schuld leads the team with 65 strikeouts and tallied 10 against Marist in Tuesday’s game. Junior Lindsay Lopez holds the best earned run average in an already stingy staff with 0.85.
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Senior Yannira Acuna leads ASU with a .492 batting average and eight home runs. Acuna hit five home runs last weekend at the Sun Devil Classic. Freshman Cydney Sanders has tallied 27 runs batted in and has drawn a team-high 18 walks, while also hitting .466. Junior Alynah Torres has hit 10 doubles with a .406 batting average.
Oregon State (22-4) is led offensively by freshman Eliana Gottlieb’s 24 runs and junior Frankie Hammoude’s nine home runs and .468 batting average. Sophomore Tarni Stepto has held batters to a .155 batting average and holds an 8-1 record on the season.
Friday’s game will start at 6 pm, Saturday at 4 pm, and Sunday will start at 1 pm All games will be available on ASU’s live stream.
Around campus
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No. 14 ASU gymnastics will compete in Saturday’s evening session at the Pac-12 Championships at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah at 5 pm MST. The Sun Devils (6-4, 5-2 Pac-12) will go up against the top competition in the Pac-12 at the evening session, including No. 1 seed Utah (10-3), no. 2 seed Cal (7-3) and No. 3 seed Oregon State (8-2). Junior Hannah Scharf is currently ranked No. 12 in the all-around nationally. Scharf has won five all-around titles and six additional event titles this season. Freshman Alex Theodorou is ranked in the top 25 on vault with three event wins and career high 9,925 this season.
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No. 9 ASU water polo (13-8, 1-1 Pac-12) will host No. 4 Cal at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on Friday at 1 pm Freshman Vanda Baksa was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Newcomer of the Week for the second time this season after recording 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) at the second Arizona State Invitational. Baksa now leads the NCAA in points (102), and field blocks (18).
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ASU track and field will host its first outdoor meet of the season with the Baldy Castillo Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Participating teams include Grand Canyon, Iowa, LSU, Northern Arizona, Ohio State, Texas A&M, and Washington State.
Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com or 602-647-4122. Follow her on Twitter @jennarortiz.
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