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Ranked league matchup highlights Pac-12 softball

Mar 27, 2019

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• UCLA softball won its final four non-conference games last week to become the unanimous No. 1 team in the country with all 32 first-place votes in the latest USA Today /NFCA Coaches Poll. The Bruins, who boast the best ERA (1.12) in the nation, extended their winning streak to 12 games with non-conference wins.

• No. 1 UCLA is joined in the top-10 of the latest top-25 poll by No. 7 WASHINGTON (25-6, 3-3 Pac-12), which has maintained a top-10 spot every week this season and earned its first Conference wins of the year with a three-game sweep at OREGON (6-3, 14-2, 8-0).

• ARIZONA holds at No. 11 for the second-straight week while owning a 24-7 overall record and a perfect 6-0 Pac-12 record through two weeks of Conference action. No. 17 ARIZONA STATE bumped up one spot in the poll after taking three games against UTAH. The Sun Devils lead the nation in scoring (9.12), home runs per game (1.94), on base percentage (0.461) and slugging percentage (0.696) as Jessie Harper tops the nation in home runs per game (0.55) and ranks 11th in RBIs (39). STANFORD is receiving votes for the second-consecutive week and fourth time this season.

• Seven of the league’s nine teams own a top-50 NCAA RPI including three teams ranked in the top-10, which ties for the most of any conference, with No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Washington and No. 7 Arizona. Additionally, No. 18 Stanford, No. 29 Arizona State, No. 40 Oregon State and No. 43 Oregon join the list.

• Three league teams also own top-15 strengths of schedule with No. 5 Washington, No. 6 Oregon and No. 12 Arizona while seven make the top-50 including UCLA, Oregon State, Utah and Stanford at Nos. 31, 40, 41 and 50, respectively.

PAC-12 SOFTBALL NOTES: Ten nationally ranked teams in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll posted unbeaten weeks including Pac-12 programs UCLA, Washington, Arizona and Arizona State. Five Pac-12 softball teams rank in the latest top-25 poll with No. 1 UCLA, No. 8 Washington, No. 9 Arizona, No. 13 Arizona State and newest addition No. 24 Stanford, earning its first top-25 mark this season.

Stanford swept a shortened two-game series against California (9-3, 11-10) for its first Pac-12 series win since 2013 and improved to 21-4 overall for the program’s best start since 2012 (22-3). Trailing 10-7 entering the seventh inning of the second game, the Cardinal offense erupted for four runs, capped by Alyssa Horeczko’s game-winning run from first base off Teaghan Cowles’ base-hit.

THE WEEK AHEAD:  Wednesday features six non-conference matchups before eight teams return to league action on Friday. Two rival matchups headline this weekend as No. 11 Arizona welcomes No. 17 Arizona State and No. 1 UCLA hosts California. Oregon matches up with Stanford and Oregon State travels to Washington for three-game series.

Nine Pac-12 softball games are slated to air on Pac-12 Networks while the series finale between the Wildcats and Sun Devils will air on ESPN2. Utah competes in four out-of-conference contests as the Utes face Weber State on Wednesday before a three-game series against No. 2 Oklahoma.

NATIONAL STAT LEADERS: Four Pac-12 teams’ batting averages rank in the top-25 with Arizona State in fifth (.355), UCLA in seventh (.348), Arizona in 17th (.325) and California in 22nd (.315).

Pitching staffs around the league continue to rank among the nation’s toughest as three teams rank top-20 nationally in ERA with No. 1 UCLA (1.12), No. 10 Arizona (1.78) and No. 17 Washington (1.84). The three teams also rank in the top-10 in strikeout-to-walk ratio with No. 1 UCLA (6.77), No. 6 Washington (4.51) and No. 9 Arizona (4.19).

The desert schools battle for most home runs in the nation as Arizona and Arizona State combine for the top seven in the league, all among the top 35 in the country this season. The Wildcats’ top sluggers include Jessie Harper (17 home runs), Dejah Mulipola (13) and Alyssa Palomino (10), who rank Nos. 2, 8, and 25 nationally. The Sun Devils’ Maddi Hackbarth (16), Kindra Hackbarth (11) and Morgan Howe and Bella Loomis (9) rank Nos. 3, 15, T34 in the country, respectively.   

Three teams are among the fielding leaders with No. 5 Washington (.979), No. 6 Oregon (0.979) and No. 18 UCLA (.0.975) in the top 20 in the country in fielding percentage.

UCLA’s Rachel Garcia tops the national stats in strikeout-to-walk ratio (11.58) and ranks second in ERA (0.50), third in strikeouts per seven innings (11.7) and 13th in victories (13). Among the top 25 in strikeout-to walk ratio is three fellow Pac-12 pitchers in Washington’s duo of Taran Alvelo in 12th (10.2) and Gabbie Plain in 16th (9.7) followed by UCLA’s Magan Faraimo at No. 21 (9.5).

California’s Lindsay Rood has been crushing the plate with the most hits in the nation (51) and ranking 12th in triples (4), 13th in runs per game (1.17) and 15th in total bases (82).

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Arizona State’s Maddi Hackbarth hit five home runs in Arizona State’s series sweep over Utah (13-0, 14-4, 18-17) last week and finished with a 5-for-9 showing at the plate and nine RBIs. The community sports management major sparked the Sun Devils comeback win on Sunday as the junior opened up the seventh inning with her third-home run of the afternoon for her third multi-home run game this season.

Arizona’s Alyssa Denham threw her first career no-hitter in a seven-inning shutdown against Oregon State (4-0) on Sunday to complete the Wildcats’ sweep of the Beavers. The junior struck out eight batters in the no-hitter and did not allow a ball out of the infield, resulting in 10 groundouts, two infield popups, one caught stealing. It marks the 92nd no-hitter in Arizona history and first since Taylor McQuillin (Feb. 11, 2018).

UCLA’s Kelli Godin collects back-to-back Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors as she tied a career-high and UCLA single-game record with three stolen bases in the Bruins’ 9-1 victory against Saint Mary’s on Sunday. The Seal Beach Calif., native posted a season-best three runs scored and added a walk and an RBI single in Game 1 of a non-conference doubleheader.


UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Wednesday Mar. 27   All Times PT
Cal Poly at #7 Washington  P12N 3 p.m.
UTAH at Weber State   3 p.m.
Saint Mary's (Calif.) at STANFORD   4 p.m.
UC Davis at CALIFORNIA    4 p.m.
OREGON at Pacific    6 p.m.
Saint Mary's (Calif.) at STANFORD   6 p.m.
Friday, Mar. 29    
#17 Arizona State at #11 Arizona P12A 5 p.m.
California at #1 UCLA P12N 5 p.m.
Oregon State at #7 Washington  P12N 5 p.m.
Oregon at Stanford   7 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 30    
#2 Oklahoma at UTAH    1 p.m.
Oregon at Stanford   2 p.m.
#17 Arizona State at #11 Arizona P12A 5 p.m.
Oregon State at #7 Washington  P12N 5 p.m.
California at #1 UCLA  P12N 7 p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 31    
#2 Oklahoma at UTAH    11 a.m.
Oregon State at #7 Washington  P12N 12 p.m.
California at #1 UCLA P12LA 1 p.m.
Oregon at Stanford   1 p.m.
#17 Arizona State at #11 Arizona ESPN2 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Apr. 2    
Sacramento State at STANFORD   4 p.m.
Utah Valley at UTAH    5 p.m.
Sacramento State at STANFORD   6 p.m.

 


CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings)

Teams Pac-12 Record Overall Record
Arizona  6-0 24-7
UCLA 3-0 29-1
Stanford 2-0 21-4
Arizona State 5-1 25-8
Washington  3-3 25-6
Utah 2-4 13-17
California 1-4 20-11
Oregon State 1-5 17-10
Oregon  0-6 11-16

2019 PAC-12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

  Player of the Week Pitcher of the Week Freshman of the Week
Feb. 12 Missy Nunes, OSU Rachel Garcia, UCLA Rachel Cid, ORE
Feb. 19 Kindra Hackbarth, ASU Rachel Garcia, UCLA Megan Faraimo, UCLA
Feb. 26 Shaye Bowden, ORE Rachel Garcia, UCLA Megan Faraimo, UCLA
March 5 Teaghan Cowles, STAN  Taylor McQuillin, ARIZ Emily Young, STAN
March 12 Lindsay Rood, CAL Gabbie Plain, WASH Megan Faraimo, UCLA
March 19 Rachel Garcia, UCLA Rachel Garcia, UCLA Kelli Godin, UCLA
March 25 Maddi Hackbarth, ASU Alyssa Denham, ARIZ Kelli Godin, UCLA