ASU Softball Announces 2015 Non-Conference Schedule

TEMPE – The Arizona State University softball program will open the 2015 season at home on Feb. 5 against Creighton University as part of the Kajikawa Classic, the first of 35 scheduled home contests slated to take place this season. The 2015 non-conference schedule and the tentative Pac-12 schedule, as announced by head coach Craig Nicholson, features eleven teams that competed in the postseason last year – including WCWS semifinalists Oregon and Baylor.

The 2015 campaign features four tournaments played right in ASU’s backyard at Farrington Stadium and features six road series and the Fullerton, Calif.-based Judi Garman Classic as the only dates away from Tempe. This gives fans ample opportunity to come out and enjoy some shade and top-tier collegiate softball.

ASU will take on seven teams in four days as part of the Kajikawa Tournament (Feb. 5-8) – including a contest against 2013 NCAA postseason qualifier Texas. The season opening tournament will kick off the first of four straight home tournaments and five straight weekends of tournament softball.  The tournament will also feature games against Western Michigan, San Diego, Ole Miss, Indiana and CSU Northridge.

The Sun Devils take on 2013 NCAA Champion Oklahoma in two games as part of the Littlewood Classic (Feb. 13-15) the following weekend. The contests will be part of the seven non-conference matchups the team will have against opponents that competed in the NCAA postseason in 2014. ASU will also be taking on North Texas, Illinois State, Boston and Indiana State in the tournament.

The following weekend will feature a battle against 2014 NCAA Tournament qualifier Minnesota on Feb. 21 as part of the Diamond Devil Invitational (Feb. 20-22), also featuring games against Boise State, Colorado State, Indiana State and New Mexico State.

ASU finishes the home tournament schedule with two rematches against 2014 Super Regional qualifier Michigan – the team that has knocked ASU out of the NCAA Tourney in each of the past two seasons - during the Louisville Slugger Classic (Feb. 27-March 1) – a tournament that also will feature games against Binghamton and Toledo.

ASU wraps up the non-conference “tournament season” at the Judi Garman Classic, scheduled to take place March 5-7, where the team will take on Michigan again and close out the tournament against former Sun Devil head coach Clint Myers and his Auburn squad that also advanced to the postseason last year.  ASU will also play 2014 WCWS qualifier Baylor, as well as the host Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State over the course of the weekend

While the Pac-12 Conference schedule is not set in stone, the Sun Devils are slated to open the season with a series against Washington in Seattle the following weekend.

The Pac-12 schedule will have ASU on the road for series against 2014 tournament participants Washington, Arizona and Oregon as well as a trip to Stanford. The home slate will include series against Cal, Oregon State and Utah while the team will close out the 2014 regular season at home against perennial powerhouse UCLA.

This year’s schedule will also feature a rare midseason road trip as the Sun Devils will travel to Los Cruces, N.M. for a doubleheader against New Mexico State on April 6 before travelling to El Paso, Texas to take on UTEP in a doubleheader the following day.

Nicholson, in his second year at the helm of the Sun Devils, posted a 46-12-1 overall record last season and the program advanced to its 26th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and 10th consecutive appearance in the Big Dance. 

The Sun Devils will be led by the senior class this year that has compiled a 113-15 record (.888 winning percentage) at home in their first three seasons at ASU. The class is headlined by 2013 Pac-12 Player of the Year Amber Freeman, a senior catcher who batted .406 with 11 homeruns in her junior campaign and who will have a trio of other seniors alongside her in the lineup that can provide plenty of pop.

Third basemen Haley Steele batted .329 and her 12 home runs were second on the team while Elizabeth Caporuscio led the team in doubles a season ago. They join senior Bethany Kemp - who also hit 11 homeruns a season ago – and sophomore infielder Chelsea Gonzales, who was among the nation’s most exciting freshmen in her debut season.

ASU’s home heavy 2015 schedule provides a great opportunity for fans to experience the new-look Farrington Stadium, now complete with solar panels that continue ASU’s trend toward becoming one the nation’s greenest campuses while also providing fans with a penumbra that will come in handy during the latter months of the season.

Season tickets for the 2015 season are now available through the Sun Devil Ticket Office, starting at $99.  For more information, visit this link or call the Ticket Office at 480-727-0000. The ticket office can also be reached by e-mail at sundeviltickets@asu.edu.

The Sun Devils are set to open the 2014 Fall Softball schedule this Thursday, Oct. 9 against Phoenix College.  All Fall Ball games are free to the public to attend and a schedule for those games as well as the preliminary 2015 schedule can be found here.