Preview: Oregon softball vs. No. 13 Arizona State

Editor’s note: this story was written by ScoopDuck softball reporter Christopher Tracy

The #17 Ducks (24-8) will face off with #13 Arizona St (25-5) at the Jane for a 3 game series this weekend. The weather is supposed to have some rain, the start times for games on Friday and Sunday were adjusted due to the weather concerns. That uncertainty of what exactly the weather will be, when will the rain arrive, can the games beat the forecast, sort of runs in tandem with the uncertainty surrounding the Ducks. Which team will show up?

Game 1 Friday 1700 Televised on ESPN 2
Game 2 Saturday 1800 Televised on PAC 12 Network
Game 3 Sunday 1200 Televised on ESPNews

Now don’t get me wrong, that ability to come from behind is a very valuable trait that this team has shown many times. The ability to claw back from behind and recapture the lead and win games. They don’t quit and are especially strong with two outs. But……the ability to come out of the gate and strike first. The fast-paced, put the other team on their heels from the start, jump ahead and never look back attitude hasn’t made an appearance since early in the season. The Ducks have that ability, and are more than capable of doing it……they just haven’t.

So this weekend will present a critical fork in the road. Which Ducks team will show up? The Sun Devils come in riding a 14 game win streak. They are a very hot-hitting team, and score a lot of runs. They do strike early, and are accustomed to playing with the lead, putting their opponents on their heels and then continue to beat them down. Their schedule hasn’t been much of a test, with only Oklahoma St. being a top tier team. They also lost to common opponents LMU and Texas St.

The Ducks will need to keep ASU from jumping to early leads. They will have to work in the circle to keep the ASU bats in the stadium. ASU has a total of 251 hits, with over 100 being for extra bases (56 HR, 54 doubles). One of the bugaboos for the Ducks pitchers has been the HR, with a little more than 1/3 of their runs coming from the long ball. If the Ducks can attack ASU batters and let the PAC’s best defense make plays I expect the Ducks will come away with a series win, probably giving up a game late. If they don’t show up ready, then this could be a repeat of last weekend.

Oregon offense

The Ducks’ bats were cooled by UCLA pitching last weekend. Currently led by Delgado batting (.406), the Ducks’ team average has fallen to (.316). There are 5 batters hitting better than (.300) Allee Bunker, Vallery Wong, KK Humphreys, Hannah Galey, and returning to the lineup Terra McGowan. Paige Sinicki is hitting (.282) while Jasmine Williams, Ariel Carlson, and Rachel Cid are all three at (.265)ish.

One area the Ducks will look to exploit is their strength on the bases. As a team, they are 61/72 in steal attempts. They are led by Sinicki (10/12) Delgado (11/14) and Bunker (9/10). The Sun Devils haven’t faced anybody close to this fast, only seeing 15 total attempts with 9 made safe. Be looking for the Ducks to really lean on their team speed, and even though ASU will obviously be expecting it, I don’t think ASU can stop them. They have a total of 33 errors on the season and are prone to mistakes when under pressure. If the Ducks can apply that pressure, good things should follow!

The ASU lineup has several lefties at the plate, so I expect to see some situational pitching from Lombardi, inserting Lefty Jordan Dail at times if she isn’t starting. I expect Stevie Hansen and Makenna Kliethermes will each get starts, but we’ll likely see several different arms per game unless somebody is on fire. Different looks are our best chance of keeping ASU from getting comfortable.

Arizona State offense

The Sun Devils are batting a hot (.344) as a team. They are led by Yannira Acuna (.494) and Freshman Cydney Sanders (.467). They have five others over (.300) Alynah Torres, Savannah Price, Emily Cazares, Jasmine Hill, and Jazmyn Rollin. As mentioned before, they hit with power, over 100 hits for extra bases. The team is led in HRs by Rollin (10), Sanders (10), and Acuna (9).

Once on base, they don’t look to steal often. They only have 24 attempts and have been caught 5 times. With the arms of McGowan and Wong, trying to steal wouldn’t be a prudent plan. Perhaps hit and runs…..but even then that’s not been a part of the ASU game thus far.

Arizona State pitching

The Sun Devils are led by Sr Marissa Schuld (1.13 ERA 8-2 with 9 starts and 15 appearances) She anchors the staff. Behind her are Jr Lindsay Lopez (1.38 ERA 4-1 with 7 starts and 13 appearances) Freshman Mac Morgan, who was Kliethermes’ teammate in club ball, (1.54 ERA 12-1 with 9 starts and 17 appearances) and Sophomore Allison Royalty (6.05 ERA 1-1 with 5 starts and 8 appearances).

The young Freshman Morgan has been getting the call in game 1 and Senior Schuld going in game 2, with the best performance getting the game 3 call. Lopez and Royalty are more relief of late. The Ducks need to jump on these pitchers early. They get better as the games go on, so battling early will be important.

Another area the Ducks need to stay on plan is not being too quick in the count. You can’t make many adjustments if you don’t see pitches. The Ducks do their best when they make the opposing pitcher throw more and are able to see pitches. If they can extend counts, by the second time thru the order the adjustments have been really good. Watch the pitch count, that will be a key indicator of how the team is doing.