Beavs Set for '24 Kelly Field Finale
CORVALLIS, Ore. – For the final time this season, the Oregon State softball team will play at Kelly Field when they host Utah to wrap up a nine-game April in front of the home fans.
Opponent Day/Time Stream
Utah April 26 / 7 p.m. Pac-12 Mountain
Utah April 27 / 3 p.m. OSU Live Stream
Utah April 28 / Noon Pac-12 Mountain
Leading Off
• Oregon State wraps up the home slate with three against Utah at Kelly Field in the penultimate weekend of the 2024 regular season.
• The bookending contests this weekend will be televised on Pac-12 Mountain while the Saturday game can be seen on the OSU Live Stream.
• The Beavers will look to snap a four-game skid to the Utes after they took the '22 finale at Kelly Field and swept last year's series in Salt Lake CIty.
• OSU returns to Kelly Field after falling in the rubber match of the Rivalry Series.
By the Numbers
2: OSU had two – Madi Simon (Puerto Rico; silver) and Grace Messmer (Canada; bronze) – medal in the fall's Pan-American games in Chile.
3: OSU will play three more games at home as the 2024 season winds down.
5: This weekend, the Beavs will recognize five grads: Deja Westbrook, Chloe Moffitt, Jade Soto, Abby Doerr and Grace Messmer.
5: OSU has racked up five home wins against teams in the top-20 since last April. Wins have come over #8 Stanford, #9 Washington, #12 UCLA, #20 Oregon and #21 Arizona.
12: All 12 of Oregon State's games in April will take place in the Beaver State. Nine will be in the comforts of Kelly Field with the remaining three at Oregon's Jane Sanders Stadium.
60: Hulon, Haendiges and Garcia are the only trio in the league with at least 60 strikeouts each this season.
300: Sunday's upset of Stanford marked Head Coach Laura Berg's 300th win of her career.
The Opposition
• OSU and Utah will meet for the 50th, 51st and 52nd time in history this weekend. The Utes hold a 26-23 advantage in the series.
• Utah has taken five of the last nine in the series including a three-game sweep in last year's series.
• The last time these sides met, Utah took the final two games by one-run margins (7-6 and 6-5) to seal it.
Berg's 300th
• The upset win over Stanford marked the 300th win of Laura Berg's career.
• Inside the 300 includes five trips to the NCAA Tournament and even a run to the Women's College World Series back in 2022.
Round Tripper Tidbits
• Oregon State improved to 4-0 on the season when they hit at least two home runs following Sunday's win.
• Both Madi Simon (6th inning) and Lici Campbell (7th inning [walkoff]) launched (two-run) homers over the left field wall to help push the Beavers to the win over the Cardinal.
• All four of these instances have happened in Pac-12 play (3/8 v. Arizona (game 1), 3/15 at Arizona State, 3/16 at Arizona State and 4/14 vs. Stanford)
• Campbell slugged two two-run homers in a four at-bat stretch (4/14 vs. STAN, 4/19 at ORE)
Leading the Pac
• Oregon State is the only school in the Pac-12 with three or more pitchers to have recorded at least 60 Ks this season.
• Logan Hulon leads the staff with 79 while Ellie Garcia has 63 and Sarah Haendiges follows with 60.
• Hulon's 79 punchouts puts her in eighth among Pac-12 arms while Garcia and Haendiges sit at 12th and 14th, respectively.
Sister, Sister (x2)
• The Beavs have two pairs of sisters on the team: Abby and Paige Doerr of Coburg, Ore., and Deja and Tiara Westbrook of Arcadia, Calif.
Those of Iron, Strength Will Never Yield
• Four Beavs - Lici Campbell, Kiki Escobar, Eliana Gottlieb and Grace Messmer - have played and started in all 43 games so far in 2024. Abby Doerr follows the quartet with 40 starts this season.
Putting in Extra Work
• OSU has played in three extra-inning contests this season, all of which took place last month and two were in the Beaver State.
• The three are the most in a season since 2022, which also had three.
• 2023 did not have any games go longer than seven frames.
• Game two at Portland State went to 11 innings, marking the longest game for the Beavs since a 10-inning affair in a 2022 home win over Utah.
• For the second consecutive series finale at Washington, the game needed more than seven as the Beavs and Huskies played nine.
Beaver Staff Notes
• Beaver fans will see a mix of familiar and new faces inside the dugout this season.
• Marcie Green makes her return to Oregon State where she will lead the pitching staff. She was previously in Corvallis from 2013-2022 where she capped it off with a trip to the Women's College World Series in her final season.
• Working primarily with the fielders and hitters, Matt Lisle joins Berg's staff with years of experience in college softball, baseball and even Major League Baseball.
• Starting his journey from student manager in 2018, Dominic Garcia enters his first year as a member of the coaching staff. The Beaver alumnus worked his way up to head student manager to video coordinator last season and will oversee player development, technology and data.
• Entering her third year with the program is Sarah Hoechlin, who serves as the Director of Operations. The OSU alumna spent two years as a student manager before a stint with the Corvallis Knights.
Nine New Faces Join the Dam
• The Beavers welcomed nine new student-athletes, two transfers and seven freshmen.
• Hulon (Texas) and Deja Westbrook (Cal Baptist) came via the transfer portal to Corvallis.
• Alysa Del Val, Doerr, Leah Mays, Kaylee Oh, Taverli Tennant, Tiara Westbrook and Ashley Wolfe all are freshmen.
Softball America Accolades
• Kiki Escobar was tabbed by the publication as the sixth-best second baseman in their preseason rankings.
• In their Top 100 List, she was ranked 95th while Sarah Haendiges placed a few spots ahead at 87th.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS)