Pac-12 Softball, Washington eight weeks leading the nation

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Pac-12 softball student-athletes threw two perfect games in the last eight days. Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week Oregon’s Miranda Elish threw the first seven-inning perfect game in UO softball history, tallying a career-high 16 strikeouts in the 3-0 win against Portland State on April 3rd. Washington freshman Gabbie Plain threw the seventh perfect game in UW history, the second freshman to do so, in the 12-0 win against Utah on April 7th after pitching five innings with five strikeouts. The perfect game, along with her 31 total strikeouts for the week and 0.00 ERA, garnered her Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.

With Plain’s perfect game, Washington became the first school in NCAA history to throw a perfect game in both baseball and softball in the same season. Washington baseball’s Joe Demers threw a perfect game on February 24 in the 2-0 win over UC Riverside.

Washington leads the nation and Pac-12 softball for the eighth-consecutive week, topping both the USA Today/NFCA and USA Softball/ESPN polls, and the NCAA RPI. Pac-12 softball has six teams in both the USA Today/NFCA and USA Softball/ESPN polls.

No. 1/1 Washington has been No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA poll for eight-straight weeks and seven-straight weeks in the USA Softball/ESPN poll. No. 4/4 UCLA has been in the top five of both polls since the preseason and No. 3/3 Oregon has been in the top six since the preseason, as well. Also appearing in the polls is No. 7/6 Arizona State, No. 12/11 ARIZONA and No. 25/23 CALIFORNIA. OREGON STATE is receiving votes in both polls.

The Huskies lead a quartet of Pac-12 teams taking all four top spots in the NCAA RPI. Joining No. 1 UW is Oregon at No. 2, Arizona State at No. 3 and UCLA at No. 4. Eight total teams appear in the top 40 of the NCAA RPI. Joining the teams taking the top four spots is No. 11 Arizona, No. 17 Oregon State, No. 35 California and No. 37 UTAH.

This week is highlight by a top-10 series between No. 3/3 Oregon at No. 7/6 Arizona State. The series is especially important with Arizona State and Oregon currently tied for second in the Conference rankings behind Washington. Also on the schedule are two top 25 series: No. 25/23 California travels to No. 1/1 Washington and No. 4/4 UCLA travels to No. 12/11 Arizona. The first game of the UCLA at Arizona series on Friday is on ESPNU. The other games in the series, as well as the California at Washington series, are on the Pac-12 Network.

Joining Oregon’s Elish and Washington’s Plain in the weekly awards is Oregon’s Gwen Svekis, the Pac-12 Player of the Week. Svekis, a senior catcher, was flawless defensively with no errors and an out made at the plate. She also combined to hit .700 over five wins this week with seven RBIs and five runs scored.

The Pac-12 tops the NCAA statistics in six categories, including five team categories and one individual category. UCLA leads the nation in batting average (.362) and on base percentage (.440). Washington leads the nation in ERA (0.85) and W-L percentage (.951). Oregon is ranked first in strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.63). Pac-12 teams appear in the top-10 in 12 of 14 NCAA categories.

In the individual categories, Washington’s Taran Alvelo, Oregon’s Miranda Elish, Arizona State’s Giselle “G” Juarez and Arizona’s Taylor McQuillin are tied for first in shutouts (9). Pac-12 student-athletes appear in the top-10 in 18 categories in the individual statistics.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings)

PAC-12 SOFTBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK